LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OIFTT  OF 


Received  ~Ti^C<s     ,  '89  !L.- 

Accession  No.  7  A  0  63  • 


TWO  PARABLES 


TWO  PARABLES 


BY 

CHARLES  R.  BROWN 

PASTOR    OF   THE    FIRST   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH 
OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 


*And  without  a  parable  spake  He  not  unto  them 


f  UNIVERSITY  ) 


CHICAGO    NEW  YORK    TORONTO 
FLEMING   H.    REVELL   COMPANY 

1898 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 

BY  FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
/>  2-  0   6~3 


TO 

MY    FIRST    AND    BEST    TEACHER 
IN    THOSE    PLAIN    TRUTHS    WE    LIVE    BY 

MY,  MOTHER 


Preface 

This  little  book  is  not  an  attempt  at  the 
systematic  exposition  of  the  "Two  Par- 
ables/'— that  work  has  already  been  well 
done.  It  contains  a  series  of  sermons  grow- 
ing out  of  those  two  passages  in  the  teach- 
ings of  our  Lord,  and  its  purpose  is  to  in- 
terpret His  words  and  apply  their  lessons  to 
the  needs  of  common  life.  These  sermons 
were  preached,  not  consecutively,  to  the 
people  of  the  First  Congregational  Church 
in  Oakland,  California,  and  the  kindly  com- 
ments of  those  good  friends,  and  their  oft- 
expressed  wish  to  have  them  in  permanent 
form,  furnish  me  my  chief  reason  for  putting 
them  in  print. 

I  confess,  also,  to  another  motive.  By 
the  pressure  of  that  more  than  Athenian 
craze  to  hear  ever  some  new  thing,  some  of 
us  are  impelled  to  search  out  the  queer  and 
odd  texts  that  lie  in  the  corners  of  holy  writ. 
The  cleverness  displayed  in  some  of  the 
7 


Preface 

startling  selections  is  remarkable,  but  whole- 
some good  taste  often  suffers  in  the  house 
of  those  who  should  be  its  staunchest  friends. 
"Old  friends  are  the  best;"  and  so  are  old 
texts.  Those  verses  from  the  Bible  which 
have  passed  into  such  common  use  as  to 
form  part  of  the  circulating  medium  of  daily 
speech,  will,  when  interpreted  in  fresh  and 
vital  fashion,  prove  the  most  useful  texts  to 
be  had.  If  these  sermons  on  two  of  the 
most  familiar  passages  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment should  serve,  however  imperfectly,  to 
illustrate  this  fact,  I  should  count  it  a  privi- 
lege to  modestly  offer  them  "for  the  good 
of  the  Order." 

CHARLES  R.  BROWN. 

Oakland,  California, 

March  15,  1898. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
I  A  Definition  of  the  word  u  Neighbor  "    13 

"  Who  is  my  neighbor  ?  And  Jesus  answering  said, 
A  certain  man,  etc." 

II  The  Men  who  Look  On  -     37 

41  And  likewise  a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place 
came  and  looked  on  him,  and  passed  by  on  the  other 
side." 

III  The  Man  on  Horseback     -  62 

"  But  a  certain  Samaritan  .  .  .  went  to  him  and  bound 
up  his  wounds  ...  and  set  him  upon  his  own  beast." 

IV  Unto  the  End      -  -     84 

"Take  care  of  him:  and  whatsoever  thou  spendest 
more,  when  I  come  again  I  will  repay  thee." 

PART  II 
V  The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness   113 

"  Father,  give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to 
me." 

VI  The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need  134 

"  And  he  began  to  be  in  want." 

VII  The  Wisdom  of  Refusal     -         -       156 

"  And  no  man  gave  unto  him." 

VIII  The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life   181 

"  And  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  said  ...  I  will 
arise  and  go  to  my  father." 

IX  A  Personal  Confession  -  -  205 

"  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before  thee." 

X  The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father  225 

"  But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw 
him." 


PART  I 


"And  behold  a  certain  lawyer  stood  up  and  tempted 
him,  saying,  Master,  what  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eter- 
nal life?  He  said  unto  him,  What  is  written  in  the 
law?  How  readest  thou?  And  he  answering  said, 
Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart 
and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  strength  and 
with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  And 
He  said  unto  him,  Thou  hast  answered  right ;  this  do 
and  thou  shalt  live.  But  he,  willing  to  justify  himself, 
said  unto  Jesus ',  And  who  is  my  neighbor?  And 
Jesus  answering  said,  A  certain  man  went  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  fell  among  thieves 
who  stripped  him  of  his  raiment,  and  wounded  him 
and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead.  And  by  chance 
there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that  w ay  ;  and  when 
he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  And  like- 
wise a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place,  came  and 
looked  on  him  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  But  a 
certain  Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he 
was;  and  when  he  saw  him,  he  had  compassion  on 
him,  and  went  to  him  and  bound  up  his  wounds, 
pouring  in  oil  and  wine,  and  set  him  on  his  own  beast 
and  brought  him  to  an  inn  and  took  care  of  him. 
And  on  the  morrow  when  he  departed  he  took  out  two 
pence  and  gave  them  to  the  host  and  said  unto  him, 
Take  care  of  him;  and  whatsoever  thou  spendest 
more,  when  I  come  again  I  will  repay  thee.  Which 
now  of  these  three,  thinkest  thou,  was  neighbor  unto 
him  that  fell  among  the  thieves?  And  he  said,  He 
that  shewed  mercy  on  him.  Then  said  Jesus  unto 
him,  Go  and  do  thou  likewise''' 


12 


THK  X 

"CTNIVERSITT  ) 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

"Who  is  my  neighbor?      And    Jesus  answering 
said,  A  certain  man,"  etc. 

The  lawyer  came  to  inquire  the  way  to 
inherit  eternal  life.  Jesus  threw  him  back 
upon  himself.  "Give  your  own  idea  of  it. 
What  is  written  in  the  law?  How  readest 
thou?"  He  answering  said,  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart 
and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy 
strength  and  with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself ."  He  answered  right; 
he  was  thoroughly  sound  in  that  confession 
of  faith  and  in  his  statement  of  the  ethics  of 
religion.  He  was  then  told  to  do  this  and 
he  would  live.  But,  wishing  to  justify  him- 
self, he  demands  a  definition  of  the  word 
"  neighbor."  He  feels,  perchance,  that  when 
the  scope  of  the  second  great  command- 
ment is  stated  by  this  new  teacher  from 
13 


Two  Parables 

Galilee,  he  may  still  find  himself  well  within 
the  lines ;  and  that  in  any  event  the  reply 
of  Jesus  will  afford  him  fresh  material  for 
comment  and  criticism. 

You  know  that  lawyer.  He  is  not  always 
a  member  of  the  bar.  Sometimes  he  is  a 
merchant  or  a  mechanic,  a  physician — or, 
possibly,  he  may  have  gotten  into  the  min- 
istry. He  is  the  individual  who  can  answer 
right,  but  does  not  do  right.  He  excuses 
his  lack  of  performance  by  some  quibble. 
He  can  draw  you  a  correct  plan  of  the  way 
to  inherit  eternal  life,  but  he  worms  out  of 
it  himself  on  some  side  issue.  Ask  him  if 
he  does  not  believe  in  being  good ;  he  will 
answer  right,  but  will  ask  instantly  what  is 
it  to  be  good.  Ask  him  if  it  is  not  our 
duty  to  obey  the  will  of  God ;  he  will  an- 
swer right,  and  then  begin  to  haggle  with 
you  as  to  what  is  the  will  of  God.  He  will 
make  a  bold,  firm  statement  as  to  one's 
obligation  to  love  his  neighbor,  but  before 
he  lets  his  voice  fall,  he  will  ask,  And  who 
is  my  neighbor? 

H 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

The  text  gives  our  Master's  reply.  He 
pointed  to  a  certain  man  who  went  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and,  falling  among 
thieves,  came  to  the  place  where  he  was  in 
sore  need  of  human  help.  The  priest  and 
the  Levite,  who  saw  the  wounded  man  and 
passed  by  on  the  other  side,  were  also  well 
read  in  the  law.  They,  too,  could  instantly 
have  answered  right,  in  saying  that  we  in- 
herit eternal  life  by  loving  God  with  all  our 
powers  and  by  loving  our  neighbors  as  our- 
selves. But  somehow  they  failed  to  see 
that  this  applied  to  the  case  of  the  man  who 
had  been  robbed.  It  would  be  almost 
fanatical  to  suppose  that  the  term  neighbor 
could  be  capable  of  such  loose  and  careless 
application  as  to  include  that  strange  man 
out  there  among  the  rocks  who  had  come 
to  grief  through  no  fault  of  theirs.  How- 
ever, a  certain  Samaritan,  a  heretic,  who 
could  not  have  answered  right  in  all  points 
of  his  theology,  came  along  and,  at  great 
delay  and  with  much  pains,  brought  relief 
to  his  brother  man.  As  Jesus  paints  this 
15 


Two  Parables 

picture,  His  word  about  neighborly  love  be- 
comes flesh  and  dwells  among  us,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.  The  Samaritan  was  neigh- 
bor to  the  one  who  fell  among  the  thieves. 
He  instantly  recognized  in  the  wounded 
man  a  neighbor  whom  he  was  under  obli- 
gations to  love.  He  furnished  us  a  full- 
page  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  the  sec- 
ond of  the  two  great  commandments.  By 
his  own  conduct,  he  wrote  out  a  clear  defi- 
nition of  that  word  "neighbor.  ' '  Who  is  your 
neighbor?  A  certain  man;  a  man  near 
you ;  a  man  who  needs  you ;  a  man  whom 
you  have  it  in  your  power  to  help.  This 
parable  shows  us  the  meaning  of  love,  and 
points  out  the  neighbor  to  whom  we  are  to 
direct  that  love. 

The  lawyer  could  answer  right  as  to  the 
words  that  were  written  in  the  law;  he  did 
not  understand  the  spirit  of  what  is  written 
in  the  obligation  of  human  brotherhood. 
He  had  not  learned  to  interpret  the  law  and 
make  appropriate  application  to  concrete 
cases.  That  was  why  Jesus  began  His 
16 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

reply  to  him  by  pointing  to  "a  certain 
man/*  Much  of  the  enthusiasm  for  hu- 
manity, in  our  own  day,  is  likewise  mere 
words  and  cant.  People  use  great  swell- 
ing terms  about  their  philanthropic  inter- 
est and  their  altruistic  efforts,  who  have 
not  learned  as  yet  to  be  neighborly  with 
the  certain  men  who  need  their  service. 
In  reality  there  is  no  "humanity"  to  be 
loved  and  served — nothing  but  certain  men. 
There  is  no  human  need  in  general  to  be 
relieved,  but  only  the  wants  of  certain 
men.  There  is  no  impersonal  or  abstract 
neighbor  to  be  loved;  the  only  reality  in 
the  case  is  a  certain  man.  The  friend  of 
the  race  at  large  is  often  sadly  lacking  in 
this  genuine  and  helpful  friendliness  to 
the  certain  lives  that  stand  nearest  his  own. 
So,  one  purpose  of  the  reply  of  Jesus  is  to 
bring  our  love  for  our  neighbor  down  out 
of  the  clouds  and  back  out  of  the  fog  of 
vague  generalities,  and  make  it  effective  and 
useful  by  fixing  it  upon  certain  concrete 
men. 

17 


Two  Parables 

It  is  very  easy  to  grow  vague  and  gassy 
in  religion.  It  is  much  simpler  to  talk 
grandly  about  great  and  wide  enthusiasms 
than  it  is  to  behave  lovingly  toward  the  cer- 
tain man  at  one's  elbow.  But  the  only  love 
for  mankind  that  Jesus  recognizes  and  holds 
before  us  that  we  may  go  and  do  likewise, 
is  the  love  that  serves  the  wants  of  some 
certain  man  on  life's  pathway.  To  love 
your  neighbor  is  to  act  the  part  of  love 
toward  your  wife  and  children,  toward  your 
employer  or  employe",  toward  the  street- 
car conductor  and  the  newsboy,  toward 
all  the  certain  men  along  the  road  who  open 
the  door  of  opportunity  for  our  brotherliness. 
Goodness  is  neither  a  cold-blooded,  shiver- 
ing devotion  to  some  abstract  ideal,  nor 
a  soft  indeterminate  passion  for  ill-defined 
causes.  It  is  rather  faithfulness  and  useful- 
ness in  certain  concrete  social  relations.  It 
is  devotion  to  the  certain  men  whose  need 
summons  us  to  service.  "A  dollar  given 
to  the  needy  neighbor,  whose  worth  we  ap- 
preciate, whose  needs  we  understand,  whose 
18 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

plans  we  talk  over  with  him,  whose  confi- 
dence we  have,  is  worth  a  hundred  spent  in 
promiscuous  charity."  In  the  latter  case 
the  man  gives  his  check;  in  the  former,  he 
gives  his  check,  plus  himself. 

Jesus  indicated  all  this  in  the  very  word- 
ing of  those  two  commandments  which 
were  to  contain  all  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
Love  God  with  all  your  heart,  he  said. 
That  was  definite.  There  is  but  one  God, 
and  no  uncertainty  could  arise  as  to  the 
heavenly  side  of  our  obligations.  As  to  the 
earthly  side,  he  did  not  say,  "Love  man;" 
that  would  have  been  loose  and  misty. 
There  are  millions  of  men.  In  the  case  of 
the  overwhelming  majority,  it  does  not 
matter  to  them,  practically,  whether  we  love 
them  or  not.  Our  love  would  never  be- 
come known  nor  effective.  Loving  them 
would  be  nothing  more  than  a  pleasant 
sentiment.  The  second  commandment 
must  read,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor. 
Jesus  names  the  certain  men  whom  we  are 
to  love.  Love  some  particular  men  who 
19 


X^v 

f  OF  THE 

MTNIVEBSI 


Two  Parables 

are  within  the  length  of  your  cabletow,  and 
whom  you  have  power  to  help. 

The  whole  teaching  of  Jesus  looks  in  that 
direction.  The  aim  of  conduct,  as  he  con- 
ceived it,  is  not  abstract  saintliness,  but  full, 
rich,  useful  life.  We  are  not  here  to  spend 
our  efforts  in  cultivating  and  nursing  some 
deep,  hidden  thing  called  virtue;  we  are 
rather  here,  by  God's  help  and  grace,  to 
cultivate,  as  a  recent  writer  on  ethics  has 
said,  "  faithfulness  and  helpfulness  in  the 
actual  relationships"  of  the  family,  of  so- 
ciety, of  the  neighborhood,  and  of  the 
church.  If  we  do  that,  our  virtue  and  our 
character  will  take  care  of  itself.  We  shall 
have  life,  and  have  it  abundantly  by  doing 
the  will  of  God  in  our  plain,  ordinary  situa- 
tions. Eternal  life,  indeed,  is  knowing  the 
true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has 
sent.  But  we  come  to  know  Jesus  best  by 
serving  the  needs  of  men.  Those  to  whom 
He  spoke  the  disappointing  words,  "I  know 
you  not,"  were  the  foolish  ones  who  had 
carelessly  failed  to  discharge  their  duties  in 

20 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

society.  Those  who  are  commended  as 
having  been  held  within  the  loving  anticipa- 
tion of  the  Father,  who  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  was  preparing  a  kingdom  for 
them,  are  the  men  who  helped  to  relieve 
the  pain  and  trouble  around  them.  Inas- 
much as  we  have  ministered  unto  the  plain 
wants  of  men  who  lacked  food,  clothing, 
medicine,  and  friendship,  we  have  minis- 
tered unto  Him.  Our  whole  duty,  then,  is 
comprehended  in  this:  We  must  love  God 
and  we  must  love  these  certain  men. 

The  modern  plea  is  for  close,  definite,  and 
personal  relations  in  all  forms  of  Christian 
work.  The  present  tendency  is  toward 
charity  at  arm's  length  instead  of  charity  at 
the  end  of  a  long  pole,  or  the  farther  out- 
post of  a  complex  organization.  Charitably- 
inclined  families  are  asked  to  know  and 
relieve  certain  needy  families.  Unpaid,  vol- 
untary, friendly  visitors,  rather  than  officials, 
represent  the  organized  relief  work  in  many 
cities,  and  come  close  to  the  real  people  to 
be  helped.  The  individual  church  still  con- 

21 


Two  Parables 

tributes  to  the  great  missionary  boards,  but 
it  sometimes  also  sends  out,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  board,  a  certain  man, 
who  forms  a  vital  bond  between  the  foreign 
field  and  his  own  local  church.  The  state- 
ment that  the  field  is  the  world  is  thus 
translated  from  an  abstract  utterance  of  an 
undeniable  fact  into  a  life  size  picture, 
where  we  see  our  own  flesh  and  blood. 
Our  neighbor  in  the  next  pew  has  a 
daughter  representing  our  church  in  India. 
The  man  who  passes  the  plate  has  a  son 
who  is  a  medical  missionary  in  Africa.  We 
have  a  kodak  picture,  on  the  mantel  at  home 
of  certain  men  brought  from  paganism  into 
the  Kingdom  of  God  by  these  certain  fellow 
Christians  from  our  own  church  fireside. 
How  much  easier  to  really  love  our  Buddhist 
neighbor,  give  for  him  and  pray  for  him, 
when  by  this  system  of  personal  relation- 
ships he  has  become  to  us  a  certain  man ! 

This  definition  of  the  word  neighbor 
throws  light,  also,  upon  another  phase  of 
human  conduct.  Life  is  not  one  straight, 

22 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

steady,  unchanging  thing.  It  is  made  up 
of  occasions,  new  situations,  and  fresh  op- 
portunities. To  be  a  neighborly  man  is  to 
act  the  part  of  love  toward  the  certain  in- 
dividual who  confronts  you  in  each  situa- 
tion. When  the  Samaritan  was  riding 
calmly  along  on  his  own  beast,  he  was  not 
loving  that  wounded  traveler.  He  did  not 
know  there  was  such  a  man.  But  he  rides 
around  a  bend  in  the  road,  and  there  is  the 
sufferer,  lying  among  the  rocks,  bleeding  and 
half  dead.  Instantly  the  Samaritan  has 
another  neighbor  whom  he  must  love. 
Here  is  a  fresh  opportunity,  and  he  meets  it 
with  devoted  service.  That  was  what  Jesus 
meant  when  He  told  us  that  the  neighbor 
whom  we  are  to  love  is  a  certain  man,  provi- 
dentially thrown  in  our  way,  that  we  may 
render  him  a  kindness. 

We  never  need  to  make  pilgrimages  to 
find  our  religious  opportunities.  We  shall 
not  overtake  our  salvation  by  journeying  to 
this  mountain,  nor  to  Jerusalem,  nor  to  any 
far-away  situation.  The  man  who  seeks  to 
23 


Two  Parables 

do  the  will  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  will 
find  that  "the  place"  where  men  ought  to 
worship  and  to  work  is  the  very  spot  where 
he  already  stands.  The  Crusaders  used  to  go 
to  Palestine  to  capture  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
from  the  Saracens.  They  felt  they  were 
rendering  a  service  to  Christ,  and  that  they 
would  find  Him  and  His  blessing  there.  But 
He  was  not  there ;  He  was  risen.  The  fail- 
ure of  all  their  attempts  seems  like  God's 
own  rebuke  upon  a  superstitious  regard  for 
certain  soil.  We  do  not  find  God  by  going 
to  Palestine.  He  is  here;  He  is  not  far 
from  any  one  of  us.  We  find  Him  not  by 
a  change  of  place,  but  by  a  change  of  heart. 
He  dwells  with  every  man  who  has  an  obedi- 
ent and  a  contrite  heart.  He  offers  every 
man  the  completest  opportunity  for  Chris- 
tian service  in  the  providential  openings  that 
stand  along  the  way. 

We   never   need    to   travel   to   find    our 

human  duties.     You  have  seen  enthusiasts 

rushing  about  to  find  what  their  hands  ought 

to  do.     They  tell  us  they  are  anxious  to  do 

24 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

something  for  Christ,  but  that  they  do  not 
find  it.  They  forget  that  the  way  to  serve 
Christ  is  to  begin  right  where  you  are. 
Take  certain  men  near  you,  and  begin  to  act 
the  part  of  a  Christian  toward  them.  If 
you  are  a  wife,  be  a  Christian  wife.  The 
most  beautiful  being  on  earth  is  a  Christian 
wife  and  mother.  Be  a  Christian  husband, 
a  Christian  father,  a  Christian  neighbor,  a 
Christian  employer,  a  Christian  citizen. 
Salvation  comes  through  faith  in  Christ,  and 
when  once  you  believe  in  Christ,  then  work 
your  salvation  out  into  these  concrete  forms 
of  life,  and  God  will  work  in  you  mightily  to 
will  and  to  do  His  good  pleasure.  There  is 
no  other  Christianity  than  this,  and  the 
faithful  fulfillment  of  these  relations  in  the 
spirit  of  Christ  is  more  than  all  whole  burnt 
offerings  and  sacrifices. 

Men  who  carry  their  heads  high  often 
overlook  the  real  neighbors  whom  we  are 
tolove.  We  live  in  a  day  of  world-wide 
enthusiasms  and  of  marvelously  intricate  or- 
ganization. We  have  rousing  public  meet- 
25 


Two  Parables 

ings  and  ringing  platform  addresses,  touching 
our  duty  to  the  suffering  Armenians  and  the 
struggling  Cubans  and  the  starving  Hindoos. 
We  have  workingmen's  clubs  and  working- 
girls'  homes,  missions  to  the  masses,  and 
missions  to  the  slums.  All  these  things  we 
ought  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  certain 
other  things  undone.  We  also  have  a  mis- 
sion to  the  prosperous  and  respectable.  We 
have  great  and  serious  obligations  to  cer- 
tain men  on  our  own  level  and  in  our  own 
set.  When  Christian  work  was  under  the 
immediate  direction  of  the  Master,  we  read 
that  when  Andrew  became  a  Christian, 
"he  first  findeth  his  own  brother  Simon, 
and  saith  unto  him,  we  have  found  the 
Messiah.  And  he  brought  him  to  Jesus/' 
He  was  trained  for  his  broader  apostleship 
by  his  fidelity  to  the  spiritual  need  of  the 
certain  man  who  was  his  own  brother.  It 
was  made  the  first  duty  of  those  Jewish 
Christians  to  see  that  "repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His 
name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jeru- 
26 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

salem."  Even  the  duties  which  become 
world-wide  in  their  extent,  have  their  basis 
in  the  obligations  we  owe  to  the  certain  men 
who  are  actually  in  sight. 

In  charitable  work,  we  must  certainly  em- 
ploy this  simple  method.  You  think  of  all 
the  hunger  and  cold  and  nakedness  in  the 
world.  You  wish  you  might  relieve  it  all. 
You  simply  know  that  you  cannot.  It  was 
not  intended  that  you  should.  God  could 
relieve  it  all,  but  He  does  not.  Some  of 
this  suffering  is  to  rebuke  and  correct  the 
very  sinfulness  that  caused  it.  All  of  it  is 
meant  for  the  moral  education  of  men. 
You  can  only  do  your  small  part.  You  can 
do  the  work  of  love  for  certain  needy  men 
who  come  your  way.  You  are  not  held  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  want  in  the  world.  You 
are  not  even  commanded  to  go  and  search 
it  all  out.  The  utmost  command  Jesus  laid 
upon  us  was,  "Give  to  every  one  that  ask- 
eth  thee."  The  need  that  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  presents  itself  and  makes 
its  request,  you  are  to  meet  and  do  your 
27 


Two  Parables 

best  to  supply.  Simply,  be  ready!  Lay 
aside  a  certain  percentage  of  your  income 
for  benevolence.  Have  your  heart  full  of 
love  to  God,  and  then  act  the  part  of  love 
toward  the  certain  men  who  come.  Do 
the  right  deed  as  each  separate  situation 
opens  before  you.  The  great  burden  of  the 
world's  salvation,  and  of  the  world's  pain, 
is  not  laid  upon  you  alone  for  solution. 
God  made  the  world,  and  God  alone  is  at 
last  responsible  for  it  all.  You  are  simply 
bidden  to  love  your  neighbor;  and  your 
neighbor  is  the  certain  man  whose  need  is 
brought  within  reach  of  your  help. 

Who  is  my  neighbor?  A  certain  man 
who  needs  loving.  A  man  in  trouble;  a 
man  who  must  have  neighborly  help  or  he 
will  die.  This  was  the  field  where  love  was 
to  find  its  adequate  expression.  And  this 
love  is  to  be  no  mere  sentiment  of  the 
heart.  The  spirit  of  it  is  unseen,  but  it  has 
flesh  and  bones.  It  shows  its  face  and 
form  in  kindly  actions.  Loving  our  neigh- 
bor is  doing  unto  him  in  his  time  of  need 
28 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

as  the  Good  Samaritan  did  unto  the  certain 
nameless  man.  And  our  readiness  to  do 
this  when  the  opportunity  comes  is  the 
measure  of  our  love. 

Young  Christians  are  sometimes  troubled 
because  they  cannot  feel  more  love  to  God 
and  more  love  to  man — especially  to  man. 
They  covet  a  larger  and  more  rosy  stock  of 
feelings.  Yet,  perhaps  they  are  cultivating 
and  maintaining  all  the  while  unselfish  dis- 
positions. They  would  be  ready  at  any 
time  to  lend  a  hand,  to  make  sacrifice,  to 
go  out  of  their  way  to  serve  a  friend  in 
need.  They  would  wait  upon  the  sick,  or 
visit  the  stranger,  or  render  the  delicate 
service  that  is  so  grateful  in  time  of  sorrow. 
The  ready  willingness  to  do  this  when  oc- 
casion demands,  Jesus  says,  is  loving  one's 
neighbor.  Christ  did  not  go  back  along  the 
road  and  ask  the  Samaritan  about  his  senti- 
ments and  feelings,  or  cross-examine  him 
beforehand  on  his  brotherly  attainments, 
to  see  whether  he  would  serve  as  an  example 

of  neighborly  love.     As  President  Hyde  well 
29 


Two  Parables 

says:  "  The  abstract  self-conscious  moral- 
izing which  fixes  the  eye  of  the  individual 
on  his  own  subjective  states  is  the  straight 
road  to  all  manner  of  morbidness,  senti- 
mentalism,  and  insincerity.  The  healthy, 
ethical  man  fixes  his  eyes  on  objects,  per- 
sons, institutions;  and  in  doing  his  duty 
toward  these,  the  virtues  come  as  a  matter 
of  course."  Christ  waits  until  the  Samari- 
tan rides  up  to  the  point  where  he  sees  the 
traveler  wounded  and  bloody.  The  way 
he  acts  then  will  tell  the  story  whether  or 
not  he  loves  his  neighbor.  His  conduct  in 
the  face  of  that  demand  was  so  exemplary 
that  Jesus  held  it  up,  saying  to  the  lawyer 
and  to  us  all,  "Go  and  do  thou  likewise." 

Perhaps  because  I  am  young  and  have 
good  digestion;  perhaps  because  I  have 
such  inspiring  work  to  do  and  have  the 
peace  of  God  in  my  heart,  I  am  too  much 
inclined  to  look  on  the  bright  side;  but  I 
believe  there  is  more  love  and  kindness  in 
the  world  than  we  are  wont  to  think.  You 
will  find  it  everywhere.  You  meet  it  in 
30 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

the  streets  and  alleys  and  courts  all  over  the 
city.  You  see  beautiful  instances  of  it 
among  those  who  are  called  poor  because 
they  have  little  money,  but  who  are  often 
rich  in  neighborly  love.  Many  of  these 
people  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life  would 
fail  sadly  in  making  an  address  about  "a 
love  for  humanity."  They  might  cut  an 
ill  figure  in  prayer-meeting  if  they  were 
called  up  to  speak  on  the  duty  of  loving 
one's  neighbor,  but  they  both  know  and  have 
the  spirit  of  it.  The  way  that  hard-working 
husbands  and  wives  bear  with  each  other, 
take  care  of  each  other  in  time  of  sickness, 
make  sacrifices  together  for  the  sake  of 
their  children,  doing  it  cheerfully  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  does  great  credit  to  this 
human  nature  of  ours.  The  neighbors 
among  the  poor  are  ready  for  friendly  serv- 
ice in  the  hour  of  adversity,  in  time  of 
trouble  and  trial.  When  the  occasion  comes, 
they  go  in  gladly  and  do  their  best.  The 
woman  nurses  her  next-door  neighbor  in  her 
illness;  washes  up  the  kitchen  floor,  gets 


Two  Parables 

the  children  off  to  school,  and  sets  a  bite 
of  supper  for  the  husband  when  he  returns 
from  work,  hungry,  anxious  and  weary.  All 
this  is  commonplace,  but  it  is  neighborly  love 
of  the  Samaritan  sort.  It  was  what  Jesus 
pointed  out  as  tending  toward  eternal  life. 

You  hear  men  sneer  sometimes  at  human 
nature.  "  There  is  a  great  deal  of  human 
nature  left  in  him,"  they  say;  as  if  human 
nature  was  always  something  weak  and 
mean.  Such  talk  is  cheap  and  false.  Human 
nature  is  not  perfect,  but  it  is  the  noblest 
thing  we  have  here  on  this  earth.  Hu- 
man goodness  has  its  limitations,  but  it  is 
the  best  thing  current.  All  around  us  plain 
people  are  rising  to  great  heights  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  making  no  commotion  about  it. 
Parents  are  working  and  economizing  to 
keep  their  children  fed,  clothed  and  in 
school,  seeking  to  make  life  easier  for  the 
coming  generation  than  it  was  for  their 
own.  Young  men  and  young  women,  even 
boys  and  girls,  are  working  day  after  day, 
and  uncomplainingly  turning  in  their  wages 
32 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

to  support  the  family.  Young  people  are 
denying  themselves  the  advantages  of  higher 
education,  denying  themselves  love,  and 
marriage,  and  homes  of  their  own,  that 
they  may  stay  by  the  old  home  and  use 
their  earnings  to  support  invalid  parents  or 
invalid  sisters.  What  is  all  this  unselfish 
love  and  service  but  an  embodiment  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ's  holy  religion?  They  rec- 
ognize these  neighborly  obligations,  and 
they  bravely  meet  them  as  the  Samaritan 
met  the  wants  of  the  wounded  traveler.  In 
this  way  they  are  preparing  themselves  to 
inherit  eternal  life. 

This  is  certainly  the  way  to  find  heaven ; 
it  is  the  way  to  develop  good  character,  and 
it  is  the  way,  also,  to  attain  present  happi- 
ness. If  you  sit  down,  loving  yourself, 
thinking  about  yourself,  you  will  grow  mis- 
erable. The  things  that  belong  to  our  deep 
and  lasting  peace  are  not  to  be  found  by 
directing  our  attention  within  nor  by  exam- 
ination of  our  own  attainments.  Chauncey 
Depew  stated  that  he  had  known  intimately 
33 


Two  Parables 

every  President  of  the  United  States  for 
the  last  thirty  years,  and  every  man  emi- 
nent in  politics,  in  literature  or  in  art ;  and 
that  he  had  never  known  one  who  was  con- 
tented even  with  his  unusual  success.  We 
are  never  satisfied  with  what  we  have  or 
what  we  are.  God  did  not  mean  that  we 
should  be.  And  if  you  should  turn  to  the 
big  world,  and  think  how  much  wickedness 
and  suffering  and  trouble  there  is,  which 
you  cannot  change  nor  cure,  you  may 
simply  go  mad  over  it.  As  you  dwell  upon 
it,  it  will  come  to  haunt  you.  You  will 
find  the  way  of  healthy  and  useful  life  by 
doing  kind  deeds,  by  speaking  kind  words, 
and  by  making  yourself  a  helpful  man 
to  the  certain  men  whose  needs  come 
your  way.  And  then,  as  to  the  remainder, 
"rest  in  the  Lord,  and  wait  patiently  for 
Him."  He  that  thus  "dwelleth  in  love, 
dwelleth  in  God  and  God  in  him ;  for  God 
is  love."  He  that  abides  in  the  practice  of 
such  loving  deeds  will  come  to  share  in 
God's  own  eternal  peace. 
34 


A  Definition  of  the  Word  "Neighbor" 

Men  need  two  great  facts  to  help  them 
to  live  right.  They  need  to  know  that  God 
loves  them,  and  that  certain  men,  neigh- 
bor men  and  near  men,  love  them.  Life  is 
hard  for  the  best  of  us.  If  it  is  not  now,  it 
will  be.  Men  need  all  the  love,  sympathy 
and  help  you  can  give  them.  It  will  be- 
come to  them  more  than  the  proffer  of  hu- 
man friendship;  it  will  aid  in  preparing 
them  to  believe  in  and  to  accept  the  divine 
love.  We  rightly  call  God  "Our  Father." 
And  men  will  be  made  ready  to  believe  in 
and  to  trust  Our  Father  just  in  proportion  as 
they  come  to  know  the  love  and  goodness 
of  His  children.  The  gracious  compassion 
of  that  God  whom  no  man  hath  seen  at  any 
time  must  be  revealed  through  the  media- 
tion of  consecrated  flesh  and  blood.  Jesus 
was  the  complete  and  perfect  Son,  so  that 
He  could  say  boldly,  "He  that  hath  seen 
me,  hath  seen  the  Father."  But  in  the 
daily  conduct  of  all  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  the  Most  High,  the  world  should  see 
unmistakable  indications  that  God  the 
35 


Two  Parables 

Father  is  indeed  full  of  grace  and  truth. 
May  He,  by  His  sufficient  help,  enable  us 
to  make  our  due  contribution  to  these  effec- 
tive evidences  of  Christianity,  through  the 
helpful  love  we  bear  the  certain  men  who 
are  our  neighbors ! 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

"A  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place,  came  and 
looked  on  him  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side." 

Men  are  judged  by  the  way  they  conduct 
themselves  in  the  face  of  certain  openings. 
The  whole  idea  of  moral  character  rests 
upon  the  possibility  of  making  choice. 
A  saloon  door  opens  before  two  men ;  one 
goes  in,  the  other  stays  out.  A  church 
door  opens;  one  enters,  the  other  turns 
away.  The  door  to  honorable  success  opens ; 
one,  by  industry,  prudence  and  persistent 
effort,  enters ;  the  other,  by  careless  indiffer- 
ence or  laziness,  stays  out.  Jesus  once  made 
a  more  searching  statement  as  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  new  life,  and  uttered  a 
richer  promise  as  to  how  He  would  supply 
its  needs.  The  idea  of  making  such  per- 
sonal appropriation  of  the  Christlife  as  to 
37 


Two  Parables 

warrant  him  in  saying,  "Ye  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  Son  of  Man  and  drink  His  blood,"  set 
before  His  hearers  an  open  door  into  the 
deeper  experiences  of  Christian  life,  but  it 
divided  them.  To  some  it  was  a  hard  say- 
ing, and  "from  that  time  many  of  His  dis- 
ciples went  back  and  walked  no  more  with 
Him/'  To  others,  those  were  gracious 
words  that  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth,  and 
these  disciples  came  more  closely  to  Him, 
saying,  "To  whom  should  we  go?  Thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.  And  we  be- 
lieve and  are  sure  that  Thou  art  that  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  In  every 
case,  you  know  the  man  by  the  way  he 
treats  his  opportunity. 

The  same  thing  holds  true  in  the  parable. 
The  wounded  traveler  was  lying  there  on 
the  roadside,  needing  help.  He  was  an  open 
door,  by  which  any  passerby  could  enter 
into  noble  Christian  service.  There  came 
down  a  certain  priest  that  way.  He  saw 
the  man's  need  and  passed  by  on  the 
other  side,  scarcely  giving  it  a  thought. 
38 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

A  Levite  came  along,  saw  this  door  of  op- 
portunity, came  over  and  looked  in,  but  did 
not  go  in,  and  then  passed  by  on  the  other 
side.  The  Samaritan  alone  saw  the  door 
and  entered  into  an  effective  service  of  the 
wounded  man,  and  entered  at  the  same 
time  into  our  everlasting  remembrance,  and 
into  a  long  career  of  usefulness  wherever 
kindness  is  practiced  or  preached.  But  this 
morning  I  want  to  speak  to  you  of  the  Le- 
vite who  looked  on. 

You  can  see  him  standing  there  on  the 
Jericho  road.  He  was  not  quite  so  brutally 
cold  as  the  priest.  He  would  have  hotly 
condemned  a  man  who  passed  on  without  a 
glance  of  pity  for  such  distress.  He  came 
and  looked  down  upon  the  suffering  traveler. 
He  inquired  his  name,  perhaps.  How  many 
robbers  were  there?  How  much  of  your 
money  did  they  get?  Are  you  suffering 
much  pain  from  those  ugly  wounds  in  your 
head?  It  is  outrageous  that  the  Roman 
Government  does  not  ferret  out  the  highway- 
men that  lurk  in  these  rocks !  Then,  having 
39 


Two  Parables 

gotten  all  the  particulars  so  that  he  could  re- 
late them  to  his  Jericho  friends  that  night, 
and  having  expressed  his  great  regret  that 
such  things  were  permitted  in  this  wicked 
world,  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

You  have  met  this  man,  too.  He  is  not 
always  a  Levite.  Sometimes  he  is  an 
American,  a  Californian,  and  he  may  live  on 
our  side  of  the  bay.  Sometimes  he  is  a 
woman,  almost  out  of  breath  over  what  she 
calls  her  interest  in  charity  work.  He  rep- 
resents the  people  who  love  to  take  up 
problems  and  look  at  them.  Whenever 
human  suffering  is  named,  they  can  instantly 
express  themselves  in  a  way  to  indicate 
that  they  are  persons  of  excellent  sentiments 
and  have  a  faculty  for  saying  the  right 
thing  at  the  right  time.  Their  philanthropic 
bent  will  always  "make  a  fair  show  in  the 
flesh."  They  like  to  meet  and  organize 
and  adopt  a  constitution  and  by-laws  with 
the  right  ring  in  them,  and  then  elect  a 
president  and  several  vice-presidents.  They 
hear  addresses  and  discuss  papers  and  eat 
4o 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

big  dinners,  and  pass  resolutions  and  make 
reports.  And  then,  after  five  years  of  talk, 
and  after  going  through  all  these  motions, 
perchance  they  have  done  nothing  or  next 
to  nothing  at  setting  the  world  right. 
The  wounded  man  is  still  there  suffering, 
and  they  pass  by  on  the  other  side  to  attend 
another  public  meeting  in  the  interest  of  re- 
form down  at  Jericho. 

I  believe  heartily  in  agitation,  consulta- 
tion, education,  but  always  with  some  prac- 
tical end  clearly  and  constantly  in  view. 
It  must  all  look  toward  something,  and  be 
actually  moving  upon  it.  It  must  mean 
business.  One  of  the  perils  is  that  some  of 
the  present  day  charities  and  reforms  are  in 
danger  of  becoming  fads.  They  serve  as  an 
outlet  for  pent-up  emotions;  they  create 
centers  of  social  intercourse  with  something 
to  give  point ;  they  relieve  the  monotony 
of  many  a  sated  and  useless  life.  They 
form  a  parade  ground  where  the  sensibilities 
may  don  their  blue  coats  and  brass  buttons, 
and,  by  marching  and  countermarching,  ac- 
41 


Two  Parables 

quire  a  feeling  that  the  hosts  of  want  and 
wretchedness  are  being  put  to  flight.  But 
they  often  stop  short  of  handling  and  re- 
lieving the  wounded,  bloody,  dusty  men  at 
the  roadside,  whose  interests  they  profess 
to  have  at  heart.  We  cannot  expect  to 
touch  bottom  instantly  in  our  relief  work; 
and  we  must,  of  necessity,  make  our  way 
through  heaps  and  piles  of  routine  up  to  the 
real  business  in  hand.  But  if  we  form  the 
habit  of  thinking  that  we  must  be  making 
the  world  better,  because  we  are  studying 
its  ills,  and  talking  pathetically  over  the 
direful  necessity  that  something  should  be 
done,  and  passing  resolutions  condemning 
the  robbers  who  are  off  in  the  rocks  and 
never  read  them,  then  we  are  Levites,  one 
and  all.  We  have  simply  looked  on  and 
left  the  real  work  we  are  sent  to  do,  off  to 
the  side. 

The  idle  exercise  of  pity  anywhere  quickly 
shades  off  into  sheer  self-indulgence.    There 
are  people  who  take  great  comfort  in  weep- 
ing with  those  that  weep,  simply  for  the 
42 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

sake  of  the  experience.  They  are  very  for- 
ward at  funerals,  and  even  when  they  do 
not  know  the  family,  will  count  it  so  much 
better  to  be  in  the  house  of  mourning  than 
in  the  house  of  feasting,  that  they  will  not 
fail  to  be  conspicuously  in  evidence.  Min- 
isters and  undertakers  come  to  know  them 
as  professional  funeral  goers,  who  take  mor- 
bid satisfaction  in  looking  upon  sorrow  and 
passing  by  on  the  other  side.  In  other 
walks  of  life,  they  hire  a  policeman  and 
go  "slumming."  They  find  an  unnatural 
pleasure  in  going  down  and  seeing  vice, 
squalor,  wretchedness,  which  they  have  not 
come  to  reform  or  relieve,  but  merely  to 
look  upon ;  and  then  they  calmly  draw  their 
skirts  away  and  pass  it  by.  They  are  the 
first  cabin  passengers  who  will  ask  permis- 
sion to  go  down  into  the  steerage,  where 
the  poor  emigrants,  in  their  first  stages  of 
loneliness  and  seasickness,  in  the  meager- 
ness  and  discomfort  of  their  situation,  are 
indeed  objects  of  pity.  They  will  openly 
exclaim  over  the  lot  of  these  "poor  crea- 

43 


Two  Parables 

tures, "  until  they  bring  down  the  wrath  of 
the  captain  on  their  heads  and  are  shut  out 
of  all  parts  of  the  ship  but  their  own.  In 
every  case  it  is  the  Levite  disposition  that 
likes  to  come  close  to  misery,  study  it,  col- 
lect the  statistics,  photograph  it  with  a 
kodak,  and,  with  no  effort  at  or  purpose  of 
practical  relief,  pass  it  by.  How  ugly  and 
how  hateful  it  all  is ! 

The  same  spirit  has  invaded  literature. 
Zola  and  Hardy  and  Hall  Caine  have  been 
giving  us  what  they  call  realistic  fiction. 
It  often  means  that  they  go  down  and  take 
the  vicious  elements  of  society  in  their  crude 
animalism,  and  introduce  them  into  the  par- 
lor and  the  study.  To  what  end?  It  may 
serve  some  useful  purpose  in  awakening  us 
to  the  need  of  social  betterment  —  God 
makes  the  mistakes  and  even  the  wrath  of 
men  to  praise  Him  at  times.  "There  is 
some  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil, 
would  men  observingly  distil  it  out;"  but 
undistilled,  the  grosser  details  of  vice  and 
misery  are  not  wholesome,  edifying  reading 
44 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

for  the  miscellaneous  public.  Mission 
workers,  students  of  penology,  and  those 
who  seek  statistics  for  scientific  charity  and 
reform,  need  to  come  close  and  know 
things  as  they  are.  But  the  great  outside 
world,  that  has  no  ability  nor  wish  to  deal 
with  the  mysteries  of  Whitechapel  or  the 
vices  of  Paris,  or  the  wretchedness  of  the 
other  half  in  New  York,  has  no  more  right 
to  wade  through  this  slough  of  fiction  than 
it  has  to  make  personal  visits  to  the  pest- 
houses  in  fever-stricken  Memphis.  It  is 
a  bent  and  twisted  element  in  our  human 
nature  that  prompts  us  to  look  upon  pain 
and  sin  with  no  other  purpose  than  to 
simply  see  it,  and  then  pass  by  on  the  other 
side. 

Any  unnecessary  exercise  of  the  emotional 
nature  with  no  definite  end  in  view,  is  a 
mere  wasteful  abuse  of  one's  self.  We  are 
always  suspicious  of  these  people  who  talk 
to  us  of  the  great  moral  uplift  they  receive 
from  the  modern  theater.  It  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand how  bright,  clean,  sensible  plays 
45 


Two  Parables 

can  have  a  rightful  place  in  a  Christian  civ- 
ilization, for  purposes  of  recreation.  Life 
is  not  all  work,  nor  all  worship ;  part  of  it 
must,  of  necessity,  be  pure  play.  But 
those  plays  framed  with  the  idea  of  appeal- 
ing to  the  moral  nature,  where  the  heavy 
villain  goes  on  plotting  successfully  against 
the  innocent  maiden  and  her  high-minded 
lover,  but  is  at  last  exposed  and  brought  to 
nought,  so  that  virtue  comes  out  triumphant 
as  the  curtain  is  rung  down — they  serve  no 
good  end.  The  moral  fibre,  built  up  by 
the  exercise  of  pity,  sympathy  and  gratifi- 
cation at  such  times,  is  weak  and  flabby. 
People  whose  emotions  are  not  sufficiently 
exercised  by  coming  in  contact  with  the 
painful  realities  of  life,  feel  the  need  of  a  lit- 
tle extra  rubbing  and  emotional  massage 
from  this  painted  exhibition  of  human  trou- 
ble. They  often  fancy  that  they  must  be 
making  moral  progress  because  they  have 
wept  a  little,  and  felt  a  little  hot  indigna- 
tion at  the  villain,  and  cheered  enthusiastic- 
ally when  it  all  came  out  right  in  the  end. 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

Then  they  calmly  put  their  opera-glasses  in 
the  case  and  draw  their  furs  around  them, 
and  pass  out  to  live  just  as  they  were  living 
before.  Sturdy  self-sacrifice,  deep  conse- 
cration to  duty,  and  an  unflinching  loyalty 
to  a  high  Christian  ideal,  must  be  fed  upon 
something  more  robust  than  the  gentle  stir- 
ring of  the  emotional  nature  by  these 
painted  and  acted  troubles.  The  melo- 
dramatic and  tragical  performances  that 
arouse  people  and  lead  them  to  look  upon 
human  grief  and  pain,  and  then  send  them 
by  on  the  other  side,  serve  simply  to  recruit 
the  army  of  idle  Levites. 

Few  things  in  this  fallen  nature  of  ours 
are  more  discouraging  than  the  willingness 
to  look  idly  and  indifferently  upon  the  dis- 
tress and  degradation  of  others.  Why  do 
thousands  clamor  to  see  a  wretched  mur- 
derer hung?  Why  does  it  pay  the  news- 
papers to  print  columns  of  the  nauseating 
details?  They  are  not  in  the  printing  busi- 
ness for  their  health,  nor  as  a  pastime ;  they 
print  these  accounts  of  hangings  only  be- 
47 


Two  Parables 

cause  there  is  a  hungry  public  ready  to  buy 
and  read.  A  few  years  ago,  a  celebrated 
criminal  in  Philadelphia  made  a  notable 
confession.  He  owned  up  to  having  com- 
mitted some  twenty-seven  murders,  and  he 
recounted  all  the  ghastly  details.  A  fabu- 
lous sum  was  paid  for  this  forty-two  column 
confession  by  one  of  the  "enterprising  jour- 
nals." It  was  printed  in  the  Sunday  issue, 
and  served  up  to  a  wide  constituency.  After 
it  was  all  over  the  murderer  made  another 
confession,  stating  that  it  was  all  a  fake,  as 
to  nearly  every  one  of  the  instances  of 
crime,  and  was  gotten  up  simply  to  make 
money  for  him  and  for  the  paper.  What  a 
spectacle !  A  great  reading  public  standing 
by  and  paying  its  money  simply  to  be 
guyed  and  fooled.  It  all  arose  from  the 
nasty  habit  of  finding  gratification  in  com- 
ing over  and  looking  upon  crime,  only  to 
pass  by  on  the  other  side. 

On   the  streets  of   Boston  I  once  saw  a 
drunken  woman  arrested.     She  was  about 
fifty   years  of  age,    a  wife  and   a  mother. 
48 


V-1  *" 

CVF  THB 


TJNIVER 
The  Men  who  Look  On 

She  became  noisy  and  troublesome,  and  the 
policeman  rang  for  the  patrol-wagon.  A 
great  crowd  collected.  Boston  is  a  busy 
city,  but  hundreds  of  people  could  pause  in 
their  activity  to  see  a  drunken  woman  taken 
to  the  jail.  The  curious  and  almost  joyous 
interest  in  the  face  of  the  crowd  was  an 
ugly  sight.  When  the  woman  was  actually 
in  the  patrol-wagon,  she  was  frantic,  and 
struggled  to  throw  herself  out.  It  became 
necessary  for  the  sturdy  officer  to  seat  him- 
self beside  her,  and,  placing  his  arm  around 
her,  to  hold  her  in  by  force,  while  they 
were  driving  off.  When  the  crowd  saw 
that,  a  great  shout  of  amusement  and  de- 
rision went  up !"  The  pathos  of  it,  the  utter 
degradation  of  one  like  in  sex  and  form  to 
our  own  mothers,  the  terrible  tragedy  in 
that  woman's  home  and  family — all  this  was 
lost  on  them!  The  scene  in  the  patrol- 
wagon  was  ugly ;  the  look  on  the  face  of  the 
crowd  was  even  worse.  Our  Master  would 
have  stooped  down  and  looked  upon  the 
ground  as  though  He  saw  her  not.  These 
49 


Two  Parables 

modern  representatives  of  what  should  be 
a  Christian  civilization,  cheered  and  jeered 
and  viciously  rejoiced  at  the  unwonted 
sight. 

There  is  also  a  certain  speculative  charity, 
which  looks  upon  and  thinks  upon,  writes 
and  talks  about  the  needs  of  the  world,  and 
then  passes  along.  Mrs.  Booth,  in  speaking 
of  certain  books  which  were  being  widely 
read,  " Darkest  England,"  "The  Bitter  Cry 
of  Outcast  London,"  and  "How  the  Other 
Half  Lives,"  said  that  the  criticism  of  the 
next  century  upon  our  time  will  be:  "How 
perfectly  the  people  of  that  day  saw  their 
problem;  how  imperfectly  they  solved  it." 
A  mere  speculative  interest  in  charity,  in- 
deed, works  an  additional  condemnation 
upon  us,  just  in  proportion  to  the  thorough- 
ness of  its  recognition  of  the  need.  If  the 
Levite  had  not  seen  the  wounded  traveler 
at  all,  he  would  not  have  been  guilty  of  that 
neglect.  So  that  for  our  own  peace  of 
mind,  the  only  allowable  excuse  for  looking 
upon  human  suffering,  directly  or  through 
50 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

our  reading,  must  be  to  gain  facts  and  mo- 
tives for  practical  relief  work. 

One  reason  why  we  dread  excessive  or- 
ganization, in  church  and  outside  of  it,  is 
that  people  quiet  their  consciences  and  sat- 
isfy that  demand  for  some  kindly  activity, 
which  God  has  implanted  somewhere  in  most 
of  us,  by  going  through  certain  motions  in  the 
organization.  If  you  are  president  of  some 
relief  society  and  secretary  of  some  guild  for 
vagrants,  and  if  you  helped  to  frame  the 
constitution  for  the  rag-carpet  society,  you 
feel  that  you  must  be  helping  on  the  good 
cause  of  charity,  even  though  you  may  never 
have  actually  done  any  real  Samaritan-like 
work.  In  my  father's  barn  on  the  old  farm 
there  was  a  heavy  cornsheller  which,  as  a 
boy,  I  was  not  able  to  turn  if  there  was  any 
corn  in  it.  But  when  the  machine  was 
empty  and  the  coast  was  clear,  I  used  to 
like  to  go  in  and  turn  the  crank  and  make 
the  empty  cornsheller  go  around  with  a 
great  noise.  And,  with  a  boy's  active  and 
joyous  imagination,  I  could  easily  fancy 


Two  Parables 

that  the  process  of  cornshelling  was  in 
actual  operation.  I  would  order  imaginary 
men  to  bring  in  more  corn,  and  other  imag- 
inary men  to  carry  away  the  corn  already 
shelled  and  to  remove  the  cobs.  The  whole 
process  was  taking  place  for  me,  even  though 
the  machinery  was  running  entirely  empty. 
Some  of  the  well  meant  relief  work  of  our 
own  day  is  almost  as  ineffective.  The  para- 
phernalia and  the  machinery  and  the  roar 
are  all  there.  The  motions  and  the  conver- 
sations are  all  gone  through  with,  but  often- 
times the  plant  is  running  empty;  no  real 
wants  are  being  relieved.  Social  better- 
ment is  thus  sometimes  held  back,  not  by 
open  hostility,  nor  by  flat  indifference,  but 
by  an  empty  show  of  interest. 

Another  charge  may  be  justly  brought 
against  the  habit  of  looking  idly  upon  the 
distress  of  others.  Jesus  had  a  grave  pur- 
pose in  telling  us  not  to  sound  a  trumpet 
before  us  when  we  do  our  alms.  It  was  not 
simply  a  shaft  aimed  at  the  vulgar  display 
of  one's  benevolence;  it  was  also  a  pro- 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

tecting  arm  thrown  around  those  whose 
necessities  compel  them  to  receive  alms. 
For  their  sake,  let  there  be  no  display.  The 
poor  have  fine  feelings  and  sensibilities,  just 
as  they  have  feet  and  hands.  They  are 
made  very  much  as  we  are.  With  all 
rightly  constituted  people,  it  is  a  more 
blessed  and  a  much  more  enjoyable  experi- 
ence to  give  than  to  receive.  So  that  the 
charity  worker,  privately  or  officially,  has 
need  of  the  utmost  tact,  skill,  and  thought- 
ful consideration.  It  is  possible  to  feed 
the  stomachs  of  the  poor,  and  at  the  same 
moment  to  torture  their  minds  and  hearts. 
If  the  caution  of  Jesus,  then,  against  calling 
unnecessary  attention  to  the  wants  of  others 
when  we  are  actually  relieving  them  was 
demanded,  how  much  more  stern  would  be 
His  rebuke  of  those  who  go  to  look  upon 
distress  only  to  pass  by  on  the  other  side. 

One  winter,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  we 

had    an    exhibition    of   spectacular    charity 

sufficient  to  disgust  all  Christian  sentiment. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  Holidays  it  was  pro- 

53 


Two  Parables 

posed  to  have  a  sort  of  belated  Christmas- 
tree,  for  the  neglected  boys  and  girls  in  the 
Bowery  district.  The  Fifth  Avenue  children 
were  asked  to  give  of  their  toys,  those  they 
had  tired  of,  or  those  that  had  become  slightly 
broken, — those  that  could  be  spared  as  well 
as  not.  A  great  hall  was  hired,  the  tree  hung 
thick  with  the  presents  donated  by  these 
sated  and  jaded  little  benefactors,  and  the 
urchins  of  the  Bowery  were  assembled  for  the 
distribution.  Then,  into  the  great  galleries 
the  rich  children  were  brought  to  see  with 
what  eager  pleasure  these  poor  little  fellows 
could  receive  what  had  been  cast  off  by  the 
well-to-do.  The  whole  performance  tend- 
ing to  bring  out  the  prig  and  snob  in  those 
childish  natures  which,  for  a  few  years  cer- 
tainly, ought  to  be  kept  clean  and  innocent 
of  such  traits!  All  unnecessary  and  un- 
seemly looking  upon  the  straits  of  a  fellow- 
being  is  bad  for  us  and  bad  for  him.  It 
puts  us  into  the  company  of  the  condemned 
Levite. 

There  is  a  speculative,  onlooking  interest 
54 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

in  politics,  too,  that  enrolls  its  quota  of 
Levites.  These  intense  lovers  of  purer 
municipal  government  are  willing  to  read 
the  "Nation"  regularly  and  applaud  might- 
ily when  some  pungent  orator  will  score  the 
ward  bummers  and  the  bosses.  They  can 
hold  up  their  hands  unto  heaven  in  pious 
horror  at  the  doings  of  Tammany  and  Dick 
Croker.  They  can  beat  upon  their  breasts, 
and  rend  their  garments,  and  throw  dust 
upon  their  heads  at  the  very  mention  of  the 
iniquities  at  the  City  Hall.  But  somehow 
they  lack  stomach  and  zeal  to  get  down  from 
their  high  horses  of  condemnation  and  do 
the  bloody,  dusty  work  of  getting  the  rob- 
bed, wounded  and  helpless  city  government 
on  its  feet.  They  are  not  willing  to  grapple 
with  primaries  and  caucuses,  with  ward  or- 
ganization or  personal  effort  in  the  precinct. 
They  come  over  and  look  upon  the  distress- 
ing situation,  and  then  critically  pass  by  on 
the  other  side. 

There    is    also   a   speculative    regard    for 
Christianity  which  looks  upon  the  subject 
55 


Two  Parables 

of  religion  only  to  pass  quickly  on.  Ian 
Maclaren,  in  his  Yale  Lectures,  was  speak- 
ing of  the  interest  in  theology.  He  avers 
that  while  some  ministers  claim  that  the 
average  audience  has  little  or  no  interest  in 
theological  questions,  the  publishers  know 
better.  In  fiction,  three  of  the  most  widely- 
read  volumes  were,  "The  Story  of  an  Afri- 
can Farm,"  "John  Ward,  Preacher,"  and 
"Robert  Elsmere, "  each  dealing  with  a 
problem  in  theology.  And  three  of  the 
widely-read  solid  books  have  been  Balfour's 
"Foundations  of  Belief,"  Drummond's 
"Ascent  of  Man,"  and  Kidd's  "Social 
Evolution" — all  theological  in  their  main 
bent  and  contention.  Draper's  "History  of 
the  Conflict  Between  Religion  and  Science" 
has  passed  through  more  editions  than  any 
other  volume  in  the  International  Scientific 
Series.  These  facts  he  adduces  to  show 
that  if  a  man  will  deal  with  theological  ques- 
tions in  a  thorough-going  and  understand- 
ing way,  he  has  the  wind  with  him. 

But  much   of   this  is  only  a  superficial, 
56 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

speculative  interest,  and  does  not  warrant 
great  hopes  for  the  enlargement  of  Zion  as 
a  consequence.  People  have  a  theoretical 
interest  in  many  questions  of  faith.  They 
would  readily  attend  a  heated  debate  on 
Heaven  and  Hell  between  two  fierce  oppo- 
nents, but  with  no  thought  of  gaining  ad- 
ditional help  for  avoiding  the  one  and 
reaching  the  other.  If  a  minister  rushes 
into  print,  and  in  an  open  letter  to  the  news- 
paper attacks  some  brother  minister's  the- 
ology, and  endeavors  to  shatter  his  reputa- 
tion for  orthodoxy;  and  if  the  attacked 
minister  sends  back  a  hot  reply,  and  then 
our  heresy-hunter  comes  in  with  a  red-hot 
rejoinder,  much  interest  of  a  certain  sort  may 
be  stirred  up  in  the  community.  Many 
will  read  and  discuss  the  articles  whose  in- 
terest in  religion  is  next  to  nothing,  and 
which  is  in  no  wise  increased  by  this  little 
joust.  What  a  gust  of  heated  talk  we  had 
last  winter  over  a  remark  President  Jordan 
chanced  to  make  about  revivals!  Many 
people  read  the  attacks  and  replies,  who 
57 


Two  Parables 

never  thought  of  attending  the  revival  then 
in  progress,  for  the  sake  of  deepening  their 
own  moral  and  spiritual  lives.  Their  in- 
terest in  the  whole  discussion  was  merely 
speculative;  they  came  and  looked  on,  and 
passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

One  of  the  notions  we  have  to  combat 
is  that  religion  can  be  confined  to  the 
opinions  of  the  head  and  the  feelings  of 
the  heart;  that  a  man  can  carry  on  quite 
a  religious  life,  and  never  come  down  to 
the  plane  of  concrete  and  definite  action. 
Some  people  imagine  that  repentance  is 
feeling  bad  over  their  faults,  crying  a 
little  perhaps,  wishing  they  were  better, 
instead  of  being  what  it  is  in  the  Word 
of  God,  facing  about,  making  restitution 
to  those  we  have  wronged,  and  starting 
morally  on  a  new  tack.  And  faith  is  re- 
garded as  a  feeling  or  opinion  rather  than  as 
a  steady  reliance  upon  God,  and  a  confident 
expectation  that  His  grace  and  help  will 
come  to  us  increasingly  as  we  seek  to  do 
His  will  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life.  These 
58 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

people  treat  religion  as  a  thing  to  be  thought 
about  and  felt  about,  to  be  looked  upon 
with  the  mind  and  with  the  heart,  and  then 
to  be  passed  by  when  the  hour  has  come  for 
definite  action. 

Jesus  describes  a  certain  set  of  surprised 
and  disappointed  people  who  will  appear  at 
the  last  day.  They  will  come,  saying,  Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  been  intensely  interested 
in  the  subject  of  religion;  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  Thy  name;  and  in  Thy  name 
cast  out  devils,  and  in  Thy  name  done 
many  wonderful  works?  Name,  name, 
name!  That  same  showy,  specious,  canting 
use  of  the  name  of  God  that  we  abhor  to- 
day. They  cannot  open  their  mouths  with- 
out using  the  name.  And  Jesus  will  answer 
them,  Not  every  one  that  thinks  about  re- 
ligion with  his  head  or  talks  about  it  with 
his  mouth;  not  every  one  that  saith  unto 
Me,  Lord,  Lord,  in  ever  so  many  places 
and  ever  so  many  times,  shall  enter  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  Heaven.  Re- 
59 


Two  Parables 

ligion,  to  be  religion  at  all,  must  come  down 
to  the  plane  of  practical  life. 

There  is  a  crowd  of  people  in  every  com- 
munity whose  main  interest  is  religious. 
They  always  want  to  hear  the  last  word  on 
religion.  If  a  new  minister  comes  to  town, 
they  must  hear  him  at  once.  If  some 
speaker  has  a  new  doctrine  or  fad  to  pro- 
mulgate, they  will  go  and  receive  his  word 
with  great  joy  for  a  while,  sitting  well  up 
in  front.  If  some  man  should  announce 
that  he  would  preach  in  evening  dress,  or 
standing  on  one  foot,  or  that  he  would  dis- 
cuss some  freaky  topic,  this  coterie  will  be 
there.  They  will  sit  with  minds  and  mouths 
wide  open,  and  take  both  away  as  empty 
as  they  came.  Their  chief  concern  is  to 
look  upon  all  phases  of  religion,  and  then  to 
pass  by  on  the  other  side  without  any  active 
or  continued  participation  in  the  real  work 
of  Christ's  kingdom.  The  valiant  captain 
of  this  host  is  the  Levite  of  the  parable. 

Sometimes  I  look  at  you,  as  I  presume 
every  minister  looks  at  his  congregation  now 
60 


The  Men  who  Look  On 

and  then,  and  say  to  myself,  Why  talk  to 
you  any  more  on  the  subject  of  religion? 
You  already  know  more  than  you  are  even 
attempting  to  practice.  You  understand 
more  of  the  will  of  God  than  you  really 
obey.  And  what  is  true  of  you  is  equally 
true  of  the  minister.  Why  not  stop  talking, 
go  and  do  what  we  know  for  a  time,  and 
when  we  have  succeeded,  we  shall  then  be 
hungry  to  learn  more  about  religion.  If  the 
whole  purpose  of  this  service  was  instruction, 
that  might  be  valid  advice.  Our  worship, 
however,  brings  moral  stimulus  and  invigor- 
ation  for  doing  the  will  of  God.  But  let  me 
beseech  you  not  to  be  found  in  the  number 
of  those  who  stand  and  look  reverently, 
thoughtfully,  and  even  sympathetically  on 
the  subject  of  religion,  and  then  pass  by 
on  the  other  side.  May  the  truth  and  grace 
and  spirit  of  God  summon  you  all  away 
from  the  side  of  the  Levite,  and  enroll  you 
with  the  Samaritan!  May  you  learn  the 
will  of  God,  and  then  go  and  do,  that  you 

may  live! 

61 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

"A  certain  Samaritan  ....  went  to  him  and 
bound  up  his  wounds  ....  and  set  him  on  his 
own  beast." 

You  know  the  facts  of  the  situation  as 
well  as  you  know  your  own  names.  Those 
Bedouins  that  hide  among  the  hills  between 
Jerusalem  and  Jericho,  had  set  upon  a  trav- 
eler, taken  all  he  had,  stripped  him,  wounded 
him  in  the  struggle,  leaving  him  half  dead. 
Presently  a  priest  came  along,  and  afterward 
a  Levite.  They  saw  the  poor  traveler  lying 
there.  It  was  too  bad,  but  it  would  be  a 
very  disagreeable  piece  of  work  to  get  him 
up,  bloody  and  helpless  as  he  was,  and  take 
him  to  an  inn.  Besides,  they  were  in  a  great 
hurry  to  get  down  to  Jericho.  And  it  was 
through  no  fault  of  theirs  that  the  man  got 
into  trouble;  it  was  very  imprudent  of  him 

to  travel  alone  on  that  dangerous  road.     So 
62 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

they  excused  themselves  and  passed  by  on 
the  other  side.  Then  a  certain  Samaritan 
rode  up.  Samaritans  were  not  in  good  the- 
ological odor  at  that  time;  they  even  re- 
jected all  the  Old  Testament  except  the  first 
five  books.  They  were  far  from  being 
orthodox  and  sound  in  the  faith.  But 
heretic  as  he  was,  the  Samaritan  felt  sorry 
for  that  poor  traveler.  He  got  off  and 
went  to  him.  He  bound  up  his  wounds, 
pouring  in  a  little  of  his  olive  oil  and  wine 
to  make  the  bandages  soft.  He  finally  got 
the  man  up  "and  set  him  on  his  own  beast" 
and  took  him  along  to  an  inn. 

This  picture  Jesus  hung  up  in  the  New 
Testament  for  our  instruction.  When  the 
lawyer  asked  what  he  should  do  to  inherit 
eternal  life,  Jesus  showed  him  the  picture 
and  said,  "Go  and  do  thou  likewise."  It 
is  a  good  picture  to  hang  on  the  walls  of 
your  mind.  It  will  tell  you  what  Christian 
service  is.  It  is  personal ;  it  is  self-sacrific- 
ing. It  gets  off  and  walks  to  let  a  needier 
man  ride.  It  walks  beside  him,  steadies 
63 


Two  Parables 

him,  holds  him  on,  and  helps  him  to  use 
what  has  been  offered  him.  It  is  ready  to 
suffer  delay  and  inconvenience.  It  will 
take  hold  of  men  who  are  bloody  and 
dusty,  and  become  bloody  and  dusty  itself 
in  order  to  help  them.  It  is  never  content 
to  ride  along  comfortably  and  harmlessly; 
it  must  lift  up  some  helpless  man  and  bring 
him  to  a  place  of  safety. 

I  called  this  sermon  "The  Man  on  Horse- 
back" with  no  thought  of  getting  a  catchy 
or  sensational  title.  It  simply  describes 
the  man  I  want  to  preach  to  this  morning. 
The  most  of  us  are  mounted.  We  may  not 
be  riding  in  a  coach  and  six,  but  we  have  at 
least  a  small  Syrian  donkey  under  us.  We 
have  money — some  more,  some  less;  all  of 
us  more  than  enough  for  actual  needs.  We 
have  good  homes — not  palaces,  perhaps, 
but  places  of  peace  and  comfort — and  it 
is  a  great  help  to  a  man  in  making  the 
journey  of  life  to  be  mounted  on  a  good 
home.  We  have  some  intelligence,  some 

knowledge  of   what   life  is  and   what   can 
64 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

be  made  out  of  it — not  so  much  real  wis- 
dom as  we  wish,  but  enough  to  be  of  great 
service  to  us.  We  have  some  measure  of 
goodness — nothing  prancing  or  showy,  but, 
like  the  Samaritan's  donkey,  plain,  quiet, 
useful  everyday  goodness,  that  aids  us 
mightily  in  making  our  way  from  Jericho 
up  to  Jerusalem. 

As  we  ride  along  on  these  advantages  of 
ours,  we  see  men  by  the  roadside  who  some- 
how have  been  robbed,  wounded,  and  are 
really  helpless  and  half  dead.  Heredity 
robbed,  stripped  and  wounded  some  of 
them.  This  unreliable  man's  father  was  a 
liar,  and  the  boy  was  born  with  his  tongue 
twisted.  That  unsteady  fellow  had  a 
drunkard  for  a  father,  and  he  began  life 
with  an  unnatural  thirst.  These  other  un- 
fortunates are  shiftless,  but  they  were  born, 
cradled  and  reared  in  a  family  atmosphere 
that  had  oxygen  and  nitrogen  in  it,  but 
lacked  energy,  thrift  and  grit.  There  they 
are,  scattered  all  along  life's  roadway! 
They  will  never  be  able  to  make  the  journey 
65 


Two  Parables 

without  some  friendly  lift.  You  cannot 
assist  them  all ;  perhaps  you  can  do  as  the 
Samaritan  did,  and  share  your  advantage 
with  one.  The  moment  you  get  down  and 
set  some  helpless  man  upon  your  own 
beast,  you  begin  to  travel  on  the  way  to 
eternal  life. 

We  have  a  soft  proverb  that  people  who 
are  morally  sleepy  and  lazy  often  lie  down 
upon:  "Live  and  let  live."  It  teaches  you 
that  it  is  a  man's  business  to  live  honestly, 
truthfully,  respectably,  and  let  others  live 
the  same  way,  if  they  can.  It  is  a  weak, 
low  conception.  It  is  no  great  thing  for  a 
man  well  mounted  at  the  start,  with  a 
healthy  body,  a  clear  head  and  a  reason- 
ably pure  heart,  to  go  out  and  live  a  suc- 
cessful life.  He  may  not  become  a  million- 
aire or  go  to  Congress,  but  if  he  is  industri- 
ous, the  results  of  his  life  will  add  up  well. 
A  healthy  man  could  easily  ride  his  donkey 
from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  robbing  no  one, 
wounding  nobody  by  running  over  him — 
simply  riding  and  letting  ride.  But  that  is 
66 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

not  the  way  to  inherit  eternal  life.  The 
man  who  rides  up  to  the  gate  of  heaven 
comfortably  mounted  on  his  advantages, 
which  he  may  indeed  have  bought  and  paid 
for,  but  which  he  has  not  used  on  the  road 
in  aiding  helpless  men  to  find  their  way  to 
the  gate  of  heaven,  too,  will  find  the  gate 
shut.  The  very  essence  of  Christianity  is 
the  willingness  to  get  down  off  of  some 
advantage,  which  rightfully  belongs  to  us, 
and  set  some  helpless  man  upon  it.  That 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  parable.  It  is  the 
doctrine  Paul  teaches.  "Have  this  mind 
in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus." 
Being  in  the  form  of  God,  he  counted  it 
not  a  prize  to  be  on  an  equality  with  God, 
but  emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and,  being  found  walking  on  the 
ground  beside  us,  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he 
gave  himself  for  us  in  all  his  ministry  of  life 
and  death. 

We  often  get  hazy  ideas  about  consecrat- 
ing ourselves  to  God.     We  fancy  it  is  some 
dim,  mysterious  transaction  that  takes  place 
67 


Two  Parables 

in  our  souls  when  we  are  in  consecration 
meeting,  or  while  we  are  bowed  in  prayer. 
We  can  form  the  purpose  of  consecration  at 
that  time,  and  ask  God  to  witness  and  con- 
firm our  purpose ;  but  the  consecration  itself 
must  be  done  on  the  road.  Consecration 
means  ' '  devoted  to  a  sacred  use. "  Our  com- 
munion cups  and  plates  are  consecrated 
vessels,  not  because  they  are  made  of  a  dif- 
ferent sort  of  silver  from  that  in  the  spoons 
we  eat  with,  or  the  dollars  in  our  pockets, 
but  because  of  the  use  to  which  we  devote 
them.  The  moment  the  Samaritan  got  off 
and  began  to  care  for  the  wounded  traveler, 
the  bandages,  the  oil  and  wine,  his  own 
beast,  his  own  strength,  and  skill,  and 
thought  and  love,  all  became  consecrated. 
Consecration  is  the  act  or  the  habit  of  taking 
our  powers  and  devoting  them  to  the  serv- 
ice of  God  by  using  them  for  the  service 
of  men. 

Jesus  knew  how  easily  men  would  forget 
what  a  social  and  neighborly  thing  religion 
is,  and  He  strewed  all  through  His  teachings 
68 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

these  reminders,  that  we  inherit  eternal  life 
by  using  our  powers  to  minister  to  human 
need.  Such  life  is  eternal  life,  because  it 
knows  the  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
He  has  sent,  through  obedient  fellowship. 
How  ugly  is  the  sight  of  a  person  who 
thinks  that  the  chief  end  of  man  is  to  save 
his  own  soul,  and  enjoy  the  results  of  it 
forever!  He  picks  out  some  well-made 
statement  of  belief  with  a  strong  back,  that 
it  may  not  break  down  under  him,  and 
saddles  and  bridles  it  with  certain  experi- 
ences through  which  he  is  confident  he  has 
passed,  and  then  mounts  it  and  rides  along 
serenely  toward  what  he  believes  to  be  the 
new  Jerusalem.  He  may  feel  sorry  for 
those  poor  fellows  to  the  right,  who  are 
down,  helpless,  and  half  dead  in  their  unbe- 
lief. He  has  pity  for  the  others  on  the  left, 
who  have  been  robbed  and  wounded  by 
their  sins.  He  offers  a  prayer  for  them,  or, 
perhaps,  hands  them  a  tract  as  he  passes 
by;  but  he  rides  on,  comfortable  and  secure 
in  his  own  moral  and  spiritual  advantages. 
69 


Two  Parables 

That  man's  religion  is  vain,  and  the  name 
of  the  place  he  will  reach  is  not  Jerusalem. 

If  the  Samaritan  had  simply  jogged  along 
down  to  Jericho,  transacted  his  business, 
paid  his  bills,  returned  to  his  home  to  live 
faithfully  and  respectably  with  his  wife, 
robbing  and  wounding  none,  but  ignoring 
those  who  had  been  wounded  and  robbed, 
he  would  never  have  found  place  in  the 
New  Testament.  His  path  would  not 
have  been  pointed  out  as  the  way  to  in- 
herit eternal  life.  Some  men  will  ride  up 
to  the  gates  of  another  world,  and  when 
asked  as  to  what  they  have  done,  the 
reply  will  be,  We  worked  and  bought  a 
house  and  lot ;  we  put  in  furniture  and 
books  and  pictures ;  we  had  membership  in 
the  club,  good  standing  in  society,  and  a 
good  pew  in  church.  We  mounted  these 
advantages  and  rode  them  through,  never 
injuring  any  one.  Then  the  question  will 
come,  Where  are  the  helpless  men  you  saw 
by  the  way?  Where  are  the  sinful  ones  you 
might  have  won  for  Christ?  Where  are 
70 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

the  struggling  boys  who  might  have  been 
assisted  in  establishing  themselves  in  busi- 
ness? Where  are  the  confused  souls  to 
whom  your  clearer  head  might  have  brought 
light  and  faith?  How  many  needy  ones 
might  have  shared  in  your  advantages  and 
have  been  helped  to  make  the  journey,  and 
yet  you  appear  alone ! 

The  Eastern  legend  said  the  gate  of 
heaven  was  so  narrow  that  one  man  walk- 
ing alone  could  not  pass  through ;  two  men 
walking  side  by  side,  one  of  whom  had 
helped  the  other,  found  easy  entrance;  and 
when  ten  men  came,  who  had  all  been  serv- 
ing one  another  in  love,  they  found  the 
gate  so  wide  that  they  saw  no  post  on 
either  side. 

The  Samaritan's  service  was  also  intensely 
personal.  We  have  gotten  in  so  much  re- 
ligious and  charitable  machinery  that  we 
attempt  to  do  a  large  part  of  our  work  at  a 
distance.  This  story  would  have  been  very 
different  if  the  Samaritan  had  seen  the 
trouble  and  said,  When  I  reach  home  I 


Two  Parables 

must  send  a  check  to  the  Relief  Corps  for 
wounded  travelers;  or  if  he  had  simply 
determined  to  get  a  ringing  resolution 
passed  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  associa- 
tion denouncing  those ' '  Bedouin  atrocities ; ' ' 
or  if  he  had  consumed  all  his  philanthropic 
zeal  in  writing  "an  open  letter"  to  the 
paper  on  the  "laxity  of  police  regulations 
on  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho." 
In  the  mean  time,  the  poor,  wounded,  half- 
dead  traveler  would  have  been  dead  alto- 
gether. What  the  Samaritan  did  was  to 
get  off  and  take  personal  care  of  the  needy 
man — after  that,  the  check,  the  open  letter, 
and  the  resolutions  might  be  very  well. 
But  it  was  his  doing  something  personal 
and  definite  that  saved  one  man's  life. 

The  best  Christian  service  is  handmade. 
In  the  Old  Testament,  when  the  woman's 
child  was  sick  unto  death,  she  sent  for  the 
prophet  Elisha.  He  first  sent  his  stick, 
with  the  command  that  it  be  laid  on  the 
child.  But  there  was  no  recovery.  He 

sent  his  servant  Gehazi.     At  last  he  went 

72 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

himself,  "and  put  his  mouth  upon  his 
mouth,  and  his  eyes  upon  his  eyes,  and  his 
hands  upon  his  hands,  ....  and 
the  flesh  of  the  child  waxed  warm."  The 
sick  and  sinful  human  race  will  never  be 
recovered  until  good  men,  after  sending 
their  sticks  and  checks,  their  servants  and 
their  committees,  come  themselves,  and  by 
close  and  personal  service  engage  in  saving 
that  which  is  lost. 

It  is  good  for  a  man  to  have  his  name  on 
the  roll  of  the  church ;  it  shows  the  world 
where  he  stands  in  regard  to  the  religion  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  good  for  him 
to  send  his  check  for  the  maintenance  of 
public  worship.  It  is  good  for  him  to  be 
present  at  Sunday  morning  service.  But 
we  want  the  whole  man,  his  voice,  judg- 
ment, heart,  personal  friendship,  sympathy; 
we  want  to  enlist  the  total  man  in  the  serv- 
ice of  Christ.  We  want  him  to  grapple 
personally  with  the  establishment  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  Oakland,  as  the  Sa- 
maritan grappled  with  the  wounded  trav- 
73 


Two  Parables 

eler.  We  want  the  Christian  man  to  take 
hold  of  the  work  of  the  church  with  his 
own  hands,  and  think  and  plan  with  his 
own  head,  and  love  and  pray  with  his  own 
heart.  We  all  believe  that  good  is  being 
accomplished  by  the  regular  ministry,  by 
evangelists,  and  by  many  special  agencies. 
But  we  believe  that  still  more  can  be  done 
by  the  plain  people  themselves.  No  single 
minister  or  evangelist,  in  this  or  any  other 
pulpit,  could  do  as  much  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  people  of  Oakland  in  Chris- 
tian life  as  this  body  of  unordained,  un- 
titled  Christian  men  and  women.  The 
business  man  who  has  faced  the  world  on 
its  practical  side  for  thirty  years  can  show 
his  young  friend,  in  an  unconventional 
talk,  the  value  of  Christian  character.  The 
woman  who  has  traveled  in  her  experience 
of  womanhood  all  the  way  from  May  to 
December,  and  is  not  old  yet,  and  never 
will  be  old,  can  show  the  young  girl  how 
nothing  sweetens,  strengthens  and  ennobles 
a  woman's  life  like  faith  in  God,  the  habit  of 
74 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

prayer,  and  the  unwavering  purpose  to 
make  the  atmosphere  of  her  presence  deeply 
Christian.  We  have  trusted  so  much  to  set 
addresses  and  professional  appeals!  Jesus 
depended  more  upon  personal,  familiar, 
social  intercourse  and  conversation  for  the 
growth  of  His  kingdom.  He  talked  with 
fishermen  in  their  boats;  He  put  forward 
the  truth  of  God  as  He  met  people  on  the 
road,  at  the  public  wells,  in  the  market- 
place, and  at  their  festivals  and  feasts. 
The  work  of  Christianizing  the  world  will 
be  done  best  as  we  take  hold  personally, 
man  by  man,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Sa- 
maritan lifting  the  wounded  traveler. 

The  professor  of  philosophy  in  an  Ameri- 
can university,  a  few  years  ago,  felt  that 
the  churches  in  the  town  were  not  accom- 
plishing for  the  students  what  needed  to  be 
done.  In  the  public  services  there  was  no 
opportunity  to  talk  back.  Young  people 
like  to  ask  questions,  make  objections,  de- 
mand reasons  and  proofs.  He  announced 
that  he  would  be  "at  home"  on  Sunday 
75 


Two  Parables 

afternoons.  His  parlors  were  large  and 
would  seat  over  a  hundred  students.  His  wife 
had  studied  abroad  and  was  an  accomplished 
musician.  The  young  men  and  young 
women  filled  the  parlors,  glad  to  feel  them- 
selves in  a  home,  delighted  with  the  music, 
and,  more  than  all,  eager  to  discuss  in  frank, 
unconventional  fashion  such  questions  as 
confronted  them :  Why  should  we  believe 
in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible?  What  is 
atonement,  and  how  does  it  affect  us? 
How  does  one  begin  a  Christian  life?  What 
about  studying  on  Sunday?  What  is  the 
rational  Christian  course  in  regard  to  popular 
amusements?  The  discussions  were  with- 
out restraint  or  reserve,  and  the  interest 
increased  year  after  year.  This  professor 
saw  that  both  the  faith  and  the  practice  of 
many  of  the  students  was  wounded  and 
sometimes  left  half  dead,  by  their  absence 
from  home,  by  their  entrance  into  a  new 
world,  by  their  studies  in  science,  in  phi- 
losophy— by  the  larger  outlook  that  clashed 
with  some  of  the  beliefs  of  childhood, 
76 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

which  they  had  not  taken  pains  to  revise. 
Instead  of  riding  comfortably  along  upon 
his  house,  and  his  intellectual  attainments, 
and  his  own  clear,  rational,  Christian  belief, 
he  dismounted  on  Sunday  afternoon  and 
placed  them  all  at  the  disposal  of  these 
young  friends.  In  this  thoughtful  and 
personal  service,  he  showed  that  he  had 
learned  the  way  to  inherit  eternal  life. 

This  passage  also  teaches  us  the  worth 
and  power  of  that  plain  kindness  which  has 
no  fringe  or  border  of  religious  exhortation. 
Some  would  say  that  Jesus  left  the  parable 
incomplete.  It  seems  almost  perilous  to 
point  a  man  who  is  inquiring  the  way  of 
eternal  life  to  the  simple  kindness  of  the 
Samaritan,  and  then,  without  a  single  note 
of  warning  or  apology  touching  his  heresies, 
say,  "Go,  and  do  thou  likewise/'  If  the 
Samaritan,  after  getting  the  traveler  to  the 
inn,  had  talked  to  him  about  his  soul,  or 
had  left  him  a  copy  of  Walker's  "Plan  of 
Salvation,"  it  might  have  been  better.  It 
seems  risky  to  leave  the  account  of  his  serv- 
77 


Two  Parables 

ice  so  incomplete.  But  there  it  is;  that  is 
the  way  Jesus  left  it.  Indeed,  Christ  some- 
times showed  a  strange  disregard  for  things 
we  count  of  great  moment.  He  began  His 
public  ministry  at  a  wedding,  and  when  the 
refreshments  gave  out  He  helped  them  to 
get  some  more.  We  are  not  told  that  He 
followed  this  kind  act  by  any  homily,  or 
that  he  used  it  to  point  a  moral.  He  gra- 
ciously added  to  the  joy  of  that  occasion  in 
Cana  of  Galilee,  and  left  it  there;  "and 
his  disciples  believed  on  Him."  They  had 
believed  on  Him  before,  but  it  deepened 
their  faith  as  they  saw  Him  come  to  the 
marriage  that  it  might  have  joy  and  might 
have  it  more  abundantly. 

The  power  of  plain  kindness  in  social  life 
is  under-estimated.  We  are  slow  of  heart 
to  believe  that  real  religious  business  can  be 
transacted  while  we  are  in  our  swallow-tail 
coats  and  our  light  gowns.  We  will  sup- 
pose that  you  are  mounted  upon  a  wide 
acquaintance  in  society;  that  you  have  ac- 
quired the  poise,  balance,  and  presence  of 
78 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

mind  that  is  invaluable  in  social  life;  you 
know  enough  not  to  bore  people  with  long 
stories ;  you  manage  your  conversation  as  a 
sailor  sails  his  boat,  holding  the  rope  in  one 
hand,  the  rudder  in  the  other,  watching  and 
utilizing  every  puff  of  wind.  You  have  the 
quick  sense  and  the  light  touch  of  a  mem- 
ber of  society  in  good  and  regular  standing. 
It  is  easy  for  you  to  ride  along  on  these  ad- 
vantages and  have  a  good  time  at  any  party 
or  reception.  You  will  make  the  journey 
from  one  end  of  the  evening  to  the  other 
without  a  jar  or  a  dull  moment.  But  on  the 
roadside,  hard  against  the  wall  perhaps, 
are  others  who  are  shy  and  awkward;  or 
they  are  loud  or  tiresome,  and  in  conse- 
quence they  are  politely  but  firmly  avoided. 
You  may  ride  by  on  the  other  side ;  or  you 
may  get  down  off  of  your  happiness  and  walk 
more  slowly  in  order  to  bring  others  who 
feel  helpless  along  with  you  to  the  place 
where  society  shall  have  for  them  as  well, 
its  full  meaning  and  pleasure.  Simple, 
watchful,  thoughtful  kindness  is  always  in 
79 


Two  Parables 

good  form;  there  are  times  and  places 
where  it  will  accomplish  more  than  sowing 
the  pathway  thick  with  tracts  and  exhorta- 
tion. It  is  a  language  we  can  all  under- 
stand; it  translates  the  message  of  peace 
and  good  will  into  a  tongue  wherein  all 
men  were  born ;  and  when  you  are  living  to 
minister  rather  than  to  be  ministered  unto, 
you  are  putting  the  essence  of  Christian  life 
before  men  in  its  most  persuasive  form. 

A  man  in  my  study  this  week  referred  to 
one  of  our  church  members,  and  said,  "Mr. 
Blank  is  a  beautiful  Christian."  Then  he 
went  on  to  speak  of  the  beauty  of  his 
Christian  life.  It  was  not  that  he  had 
heard  him  pray  so  well  in  prayer-meeting, 
or  give  some  ungodly  fellow  such  a  good 
talking  to,  or  utter  such  a  stout  defense  of 
some  cardinal  doctrine.  He  had  camped 
out  with  him.  He  told  me  that  Blank  was 
always  doing  something  for  somebody  else. 
He  was  helping  them  to  organize  their 
picnic  and  get  off.  He  was  helping  to  get 
the  lunch  put  up.  He  was  aiding  this  man 
80 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

in  getting  his  fishing  tackle  in  shape.  He 
was  doing  a  Benjamin's  portion  of  the  plain, 
ordinary  camp  work.  When  his  friends 
remonstrated  with  him,  and  insisted  that  he 
should  go  and  enjoy  himself,  his  invariable 
reply  was,  "I  am  enjoying  myself;  I  like 
this."  He  had  learned  to  get  off  and  help 
others,  and  so  to  walk  joyously  in  the  way 
of  eternal  life.  He  had  meat  to  eat 
that  some  men  know  not  of,  because  his 
meat  was  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent 
him. 

Finally,  the  Samaritan  consecrated  what 
he  had.  He  "set  him  on  his  own  beast." 
An  ambulance  would  have  been  better, 
or  even  a  carriage,  or  two  men  with  a 
stretcher,  but  he  had  none  of  these ;  he  had 
one  small  Syrian  donkey,  and  such  as  he 
had,  he  gave  to  the  service  of  the  wounded 
man.  The  streets  are  swarming  with  peo- 
ple to-day  who  would  endow  colleges  and 
build  churches  and  establish  hospitals,  if 
they  were  millionaires.  This  church  is  full 
of  people  now  who  would  teach  in  Sunday- 


Two  Parables 

school  and  speak  in  prayer-meeting  and 
engage  actively  in  Christian  work,  if  they 
had  "a  talent  for  it.'*  How  ready  they 
are  to  give  what  they  cannot  give;  how 
tardy  they  are  about  giving  in  glad  conse- 
cration such  as  they  have. 

"Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,"  said 
Peter.  It  was  silver  and  gold  the  lame 
man  asked,  and  his  face  fell.  "But  such  as 
I  have,  give  I  thee,"  added  the  apostle; 
and  that  gave  the  situation  a  new  look. 
We  always  attach  importance  to  what  a 
man  has,  rather  than  to  what  he  has  not. 
The  question  is  not  what  you  would  do 
with  a  drove  of  Arabian  horses  or  a  proces- 
sion of  carriages,  if  you  had  them;  but 
what  you  are  ready  to  do  now,  right  here 
on  the  road,  with  the  one  Syrian  donkey 
that  you  have.  You  can  begin  to  use  it  at 
once  in  serving  the  needs  of  men.  You 
are  riding  this  morning  on  some  advantages, 
some  knowledge,  some  abilities,  that  can 
be  used  to  bless  and  help  the  world,  and 
your  possession  of  eternal  life  depends 
82 


The  Man  on  Horseback 

upon  what  you  mean  to  do  with  "such  as 
you  have." 

I  have  spoken  strongly  regarding  the 
power  of  self-sacrificing  kindness.  My 
Master  spoke  strongly.  The  most  sanguine 
words  Jesus  ever  uttered  touching  the  pros- 
pects of  His  Kingdom  were  these:  "And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  Me.  This  He  said, 
signifying  what  death  He  should  die."  It 
was  the  sober  estimate  of  the  Son  of  God 
as  to  the  power  of  self-sacrificing  love. 


Unto  the  End 

"Take  care  of  him;  and  whatsoever  thou  spendest 
more,  when  I  come  again  I  will  repay  thee." 

Some  of  you  are  here  this  first  Sunday 
of  the  New  Year,  all  fresh  and  sweet  in 
your  new  suits  of  good  resolutions.  And 
even  those  of  you  who  brand  the  habit 
of  swearing  off  in  certain  directions  and 
swearing  on  in  others  as  foolish,  somehow 
have  a  feeling  as  if  you  had  taken  a  fresh 
start  in  life.  As  far  as  eighteen  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  goes,  you  have  not  com- 
mitted a  great  deal  of  sin;  you  have 
attended  church  every  Sunday;  you  have 
really  pitched  your  thought  and  aspiration 
in  a  higher  key.  You  have  a  general  pur- 
pose, clear  here,  vague  there,  to  make  this 
the  best  year  you  have  ever  lived.  So 
right  now,  while  you  are  in  this  rosy,  ex- 
pectant mood,  I  want  to  preach  to  you 
84 


Unto  the  End 

about  the  everlasting  importance  of  bring- 
ing our  undertakings  to  something  like  suc- 
cessful completion.  Not  he  that  maketh 
forty  gallant  and  enthusiastic  beginnings, 
but  "he  that  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be 
saved!"  It  is  an  encouraging  fact  that 
you  can  look  at  your  purposes  and  deter- 
minations this  morning  and  say,  "Thus  far 
I  have  run  well."  It  will  be  necessary, 
however,  for  you  to  wait  until  you  can 
add,  ' '  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ;  I  have 
finished  my  course;  I  have  kept  the  faith," 
before  you  will  be  confident  that  there  is 
laid  up  for  you  a  crown  of  righteousness. 
So  my  theme  this  morning  will  be,  "Unto 
the  End." 

To  get  this  lesson  well  down  into  our 
minds  and  hearts,  perhaps  we  cannot  do 
better  than  to  spend  another  half  hour  with 
our  old  friend,  the  Samaritan.  He,  too, 
was  a  man  of  fine  purposes,  kindly  in- 
stincts, excellent  sentiments,  and  full  of 
general  good  will  toward  men.  As  he  rode 
along  that  morning  on  the  Jericho  road,  it 
85 


Two  Parables 

would  have  done  you  good  to  look  at  him 
— and  if  you  could  have  looked  into  him, 
that  would  have  been  still  better.  But  he 
was  more  than  a  beautiful  embodiment  of 
splendid  purposes.  When  he  came  around 
the  bend  in  the  road  and  saw  that  wounded 
traveler,  his  good  will  leaped  off  and  ran  to 
the  sufferer;  his  noble  purposes  began  to 
tear  up  bandages  and  pour  in  oil  and  wine. 
His  kindly  instincts  began  to  lift  that  dusty, 
bloody  stranger  up  and  get  him  on  his  own 
beast,  that  he  might  take  him  to  an  inn. 
Next  morning,  the  traveler  having  been 
robbed  of  his  money,  the  Samaritan  paid 
the  bill  for  both.  Then  he  gave  orders 
that  the  good  work  should  not  stop  there. 
The  wounded  man  would  not  be  able  to 
travel  for  some  time,  but  the  Samaritan 
would  see  him  through.  "Take  care  of 
him,  and  whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  I 
will  repay  thee."  He  carried  his  good 
work  through  unto  the  end. 

In  this  day,  when  we  see  so  much  good- 
natured,     promiscuous     smattering,     it     is 
86 


Unto  the  End 

stimulating  to  look  at  such  a  picture  of 
thoroughness.  Sometimes  men  are  so  busy 
now  that  they  have  no  time  to  do  anything 
— that  is,  to  actually  do  it.  We  have  bung- 
ling artisans  who  have  never  learned  their 
trades;  never  will  learn  them,  they  are  so 
busy  bungling.  We  have  half-done  men 
in  all  the  professions;  doctors  killing  their 
patients,  lawyers  making  unnecessary  fees 
for  their  clients,  ministers  making  the 
Gospel  seem  ridiculous  by  their  way  of  pre- 
senting it.  We  have  would-be  artists  mix- 
ing and  daubing,  who  have  never  learned 
to  draw  a  clean,  straight  line  that  you  can 
look  at  with  comfort.  We  have  people 
who  fancy  they  are  great  readers,  because 
they  scamper  through  half  a  dozen  news- 
papers a  day,  and  skim  over  a  long  list  of 
magazines,  and  glance  through  an  armful 
of  books  every  month.  They  are  so  out  of 
breath  that  they  cannot  tell  you  much 
about  what  they  have  read,  and  they  have 
not  sufficient  mental  vitality  to  give  birth 
to  a  single  thought  of  their  own  that  could 
87 


Two  Parables 

stand  alone.  In  religious  study,  some  peo- 
ple are  almost  smothered  by  the  quantity 
of  lesson  helps,  side  lights,  illustrative 
applications,  so  that  a  man  may  not  get  a 
look  at  his  own  religious  convictions  in 
their  bare,  warm  reality,  once  a  month.  In 
religious  activity,  we  have  so  many  irons 
in  the  fire,  that  there  is  peril  lest  it  be- 
come all  irons  and  no  fire.  In  the  midst  of 
all  this  superficial  haste,  it  is  imperative 
that  we  stop  now  and  then  to  realize  the 
necessity  of  bringing  something  to  meas- 
urable completeness.  The  efforts  of  our 
life  which  will  be  fruitful  and  creditable, 
will  be  those  that  we  have,  in  a  real  sense, 
brought  to  a  finish. 

We  are  aware  of  the  elementary  and  pre- 
paratory character  of  all  forms  of  life  in 
this  world.  Our  work  and  our  religious 
belief  and  our  inner  lives  at  best,  must  be 
regarded  as  unfinished  in  the  light  of  their 
future  possibilities.  These  mortal  attain- 
ments must  put  on  their  immortality  by 
emerging  at  last  into  a  greater  fullness. 
88 


Unto  the  End 

But  there  is  a  sense  in  which  we  are  to  aim 
at,  and  to  attain  something  like  complete- 
ness. We  are  to  strive,  as  Jesus  said,  to 
bring  our  work  and  our  belief  and  our  inner 
life  to  the  point  where  they  will  be  perfect, 
complete,  round,  even  as  the  life  of  our 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  round.  In 
that  sense  I  speak  to  you  about  carrying 
your  undertakings  unto  the  end,  whatsoever 
thou  spendest. 

Suppose  there  had  been  a  wounded 
traveler  every  quarter  of  a  mile  along 
that  Jericho  road.  The  Samaritan  might 
have  paid  a  hurried  visit  to  each  one. 
He  could  have  torn  his  bandages  small, 
giving  each  a  piece  as  large  as  my  hand ;  he 
could  have  spared  half  a  teaspoonful  of  oil 
and  wine  for  every  man.  He  could  have 
uttered  a  few  scraps  of  commiseration  to 
each  unfortunate  before  he  hurried  ahead 
to  the  next  one.  In  that  way,  he  might 
have  added  to  the  momentary  comfort  of 
them  all  and  have  reported  that  night  in 
some  Jericho  meeting,  that  during  the  day 
89 


Two  Parables 

he  had  visited  and  comforted  eighty-seven 
wounded^travelers.  In  the  mean  time,  they 
would  all  have  died  from  chill  and  exposure 
and  loss  of  blood.  As  it  was,  he  selected 
one  man,  who  had  been  robbed,  wounded 
and  left  half  dead,  and,  however  many  other 
sufferers  there  were  in  the  world,  he  took 
care  of  him  and  saved  his  life. 

Now,  the  Jericho  road  that  we  travel  in 
our  busy  city  life  is  just  lined  with  cases 
that  appeal  to  us  for  help.  Every  ten  rods 
there  is  a  man  out  of  work,  or  a  widow  and 
her  children  in  want,  or  an  aged  person 
with  no  friend  to  help.  The  appeals  for 
assistance  are  with  us  in  our  down  sitting 
and  in  our  uprising.  Every  time  you  sit 
down  there  are  two  circulars  for  you  to 
read,  calling  your  attention  to  some  cause, 
and  asking  your  subscription.  Every  time 
you  get  up,  four  people  meet  you,  to  ask 
your  help  along  some  other  lines.  There 
are  three  courses  open.  One  is  to  decide 
that  there  are  so  many,  you  cannot  give  to 
them  all,  you  cannot  even  look  into  them 
90 


Unto  the  End 

all  to  ascertain  if  they  are  deserving;  you 
will  give  to  none  of  them,  and  so  shut  the 
door  in  all  their  faces.  A  few  cold-blooded, 
selfish  people  may  do  that.  Or,  you  may 
decide  that  while  you  cannot  look  into 
them  all,  you  will  give  a  little  to  each  one, 
remembering  how  we  are  told  that  it  is 
better  to  encourage  nine  frauds  than  to 
pass  by  on  the  other  side  of  one  case  of 
real  desert.  You  give  only  a  little;  five 
cents  to  the  beggar  at  the  corner,  five  cents 
to  the  fellow  at  the  back  door,  a  dollar  here 
and  a  dollar  there,  as  the  appeals  come, 
reflecting  that  you  are  casting  your  bread 
upon  the  water  and  upon  all  the  water  in 
sight,  and  that  surely  some  of  it  will  drift 
around  to  the  right  place.  Many  kind- 
hearted,  thoughtless,  incompetent  people 
do  that.  Then  there  is  the  third  and  right 
way,  which  is  to  select  out  of  the  crowd  of 
appeals,  certain  objects  of  charity,  certain 
needy  persons,  and  look  into  them  and 
know  about  them.  And  then,  when  you 
have  ascertained  the  justice  and  the  pro- 
9' 


Two  Parables 

priety  of  their  claims,  whatever  you  spend 
of  time,  of  money,  and  of  love,  take  care  of 
them. 

Much  of  our  kindness  becomes  almost 
useless  because  it  stops  short  of  any  valu- 
able result.  It  is  alleviative,  but  it  does 
not  look  toward  reconstruction.  It  would 
be  right  in  the  face  of  an  unusual  emer- 
gency ;  it  is  not  right  in  the  face  of  an  ever- 
pressing  problem  which  calls  for  some  more 
permanent  solution.  If  ten  families  give 
food  to  ten  hungry  men  at  the  back  door 
to-night,  and  let  them  go,  the  ten  men  will 
all  be  hungry  again  to-morrow  morning. 
Ten  more  kind  and  credulous  families  on 
some  other  street  will  have  to  give  them 
lunch,  and  ten  more  similarly-disposed  fam- 
ilies will  have  to  be  found  by  the  dinner 
hour.  After  three  weeks  of  this  promiscu- 
ous benevolence,  we  are  no  farther  along, 
no  nearer  a  solution  of  the  problem  the  ten 
men  bring  us,  than  we  were  at  the  start. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  one  family  would  take 

one   man,   and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
92 


Unto  the  End 

other  nine,  seek  to  find  work  for  him,  and 
stay  by  him  until  he  is  restored  to  self-sup- 
port, we  should  advance.  And  in  the 
event  of  his  being  found  unwilling  to  work, 
they  should  decline  to  do  anything  and 
allow  him  to  sit  out  and  grow  thin,  until, 
through  such  fasting  and  meditation,  he 
might  be  born  into  a  new  sense  of  his  re- 
lation to  the  industrial  world.  If  one  fam- 
ily would  take  any  one  case  of  need,  and 
acquainting  itself  with  the  facts,  and  prose- 
cuting its  endeavors  to  a  real  result,  take 
care  of  it,  we  should  make  progress.  If  a 
city  likewise  goes  on  doling  out  relief  year 
after  year,  taking  no  steps  to  put  the  poor 
in  a  position  where,  by  wood  yards,  or 
laundries,  or  potato  patches,  they  might 
earn  their  bread,  it  will  not  advance  one 
inch  toward  the  solution  of  the  problem  of 
poverty.  At  first,  we  should  need  to  spend 
more  time,  more  money  and  more  intelli- 
gence, than  as  though  we  simply  passed 
out  the  cold  victuals;  but  whatever  we 
spend,  we  shall  be  taking  care  of  people 
93 


Two  Parables 

and   bringing  our  work  to  some   desirable 
end. 

The  best  work  is  always  done  where  you 
select,  and  then  say,  whatever  I  spend,  I 
will  take  care  of  something  definite.  There 
is  a  great  mass  of  trouble  and  suffering  in 
the  world  that  you  cannot  relieve ;  but  this 
man  you  have  in  hand,  you  can  take  care 
of  him.  You  can  see  him  through,  and 
then  be  ready,  by  and  by,  for  another 
man.  You  employers  have  young  men  in 
your  employ — boys  who  are  away  from 
home;  some  of  them  more  inclined  to  find 
the  saloons  than  to  find  the  churches; 
more  apt  to  find  the  bad  people  interesting 
than  the  good  people.  You  cannot  rush 
out  and  shut  up  all  the  saloons,  and  destroy 
all  wicked  influences.  Perhaps  you  have 
one  young  man  whom,  by  your  friendship, 
your  kindly  counsel,  your  Christian  in- 
terest, you  can  keep  in  the  right  way.  Or 
you  look  around  and  see  the  army  of  incom- 
petents, and  you  decide  to  serve  your  day 
and  generation  by  choosing  a  likely  boy  who 
94 


Unto  the  End 

has  not  the  opportunity  for  an  education. 
You  send  him  through  grammar  school,  high 
school,  and  then  give  him  some  training  to 
fit  him  for  a  useful  and  honorable  place  in 
the  world.  Whatever  you  spend,  you  take 
care  of  him.  Or  you  find  some  family  strug- 
gling along,  food  enough,  clothes  enough, 
perhaps,  but  no  books,  no  pictures,  no 
wholesome  papers  in  the  home,  no  sense  of 
family  companionship.  You  resolve  to 
consecrate  your  friendship  with  that  family 
to  the  work  of  leading  them  into  a  brighter, 
better  home  life.  It  must  come  to  that 
some  time,  somewhere.  We  shall  not  re- 
generate people  by  gathering  them  into 
halls  and  lecturing  them,  nor  by  bringing 
them  into  churches  and  preaching  to  them, 
unless  we  also  reach  them  where  they  live 
and  change  the  home  environment.  You 
feel  powerless  to  renovate  all  Oakland,  but 
you  choose  one  family,  and  whatever  you 
spend,  you  are  determined  to  take  care 
of  it.  By  such  determined  and  detailed 
effort  as  this,  the  kingdom  comes  which 
95 


Two  Parables 

is   to   usher  in   a    new  heaven  and  a   new 
earth. 

The  same  method  is  demanded  in  the 
more  spiritual  work  of  bringing  men  to 
Christ.  We  find  people  who  profess  great 
interest  in  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
A  stranger  spoke  recently  in  our  Endeavor 
meeting  as  to  how,  in  his  zeal,  he  had 
visited  sixty  families  the  day  before,  asking 
them  to  come  to  Christ.  You  could  see 
him  popping  in  at  one  door,  uttering  some 
hasty,  formal  words  of  exhortation,  and 
then  popping  out  again  to  hurry  on  to  the 
next.  He  called  it  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature,  as  if  the  universal  com- 
mission had  been  laid  on  his  individual 
shoulders.  And  we  have  devoted  and  zeal- 
ous distributors  of  tracts,  who  know  noth- 
ing of  the  many  into  whose  hands  they  slip 
their  little  leaflets,  and  know  little  of  what 
the  tract  contains  save  that  it  is  filled  with 
pious  words.  And  this  they  term,  " sow- 
ing the  seed,"  quoting  with  comforting 
assurance  the  passage  in  Isaiah  about  the 
96 


Unto  the  End 

word  not  returning  void.  But  such  hasty 
and  thoughtless  work  is  not  sowing  the 
seed  at  all.  Sowing  the  seed  is  putting 
seed  into  the  ground  under  the  surface 
where  it  will  grow.  Sowing  spiritual  seed 
is  making  a  spiritual  impression ;  it  is  touch- 
ing the  human  heart  below  the  surface  with 
the  truth  which  God  has  given  us.  It  can- 
not be  lightly  or  unadvisedly  done.  The 
sower  who  goes  forth  to  sow  has  entered 
upon  the  noblest  and  the  hardest  work  in 
the  world.  Really,  the  men  and  the  women 
who  do  the  most  to  Christianize  the  world 
are  the  ones  who  strive  to  see  to  it  that 
first  of  all  their  own  children  become  useful, 
intelligent,  devoted  Christians.  Then  they 
enlarge  the  circle  and  include  a  small  class 
of  boys  or  girls  in  the  Bible  School,  per- 
haps, or  a  few  personal  friends.  In  every 
case  the  purpose  is  not  to  utter  a  few 
chance  words  to  a  hundred  careless  hearers, 
but  to  write  a  deep  and  lasting  record  of 
spiritual  influence  upon  the  few  lives  that 
offer  us  the  sacred  opportunity.  You  can 
97 


Two  Parables 

study  and  pray  and  acquire  such  a  rational 
and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  scriptural 
religion  that  you  will  be  enabled  to  take  a 
few  growing  minds  and  equip  them  with  a 
set  of  religious  ideas  that  will  become  an 
abiding  part  of  their  religious  natures.  You 
can  build  within  them  something  that  will 
endure  unto  the  end.  The  words  our 
Saviour  pronounced  upon  effective  service, 
you  remember,  were  not  "well  begun,"  nor 
"beautifully  half  done,"  but,  "Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  into  the 
joy  of  thy  Lord." 

When  General  Grant  was  ordered  East 
and  put  in  command  of  the  Union  armies 
during  the  Civil  War,  some  of  the  Confed- 
erate officers  were  joking  about  it  in  the 
tent  of  General  Lee.  It  amused  them  to 
learn  that  "the  tanner  from  out  west,"  as 
they  called  him,  had  been  placed  in  com- 
mand. They  laughingly  referred  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  not  polished,  nor  scientific 
in  the  art  of  war.  In  the  midst  of  the  talk, 
General  Lee,  who  had  been  at  West  Point 
98 


Unto  the  End 

with  Grant,  looked  up  gravely  and  said,  "I 
know  this  man.  We  must  prepare  for  the 
worst.  Grant  will  fight,  and  he  will  fight 
all  the  time,  and  he  will  keep  on  fighting, 
until  one  of  us  is  hopelessly  defeated." 
What  a  perfect  prophecy  it  was!  Grant 
started  in  to  fight  his  way  from  the  Rapidan 
to  the  James.  The  Wilderness,  Spottsyl- 
vania,  North  Anna,  Cold  Harbor — battle 
after  battle!  He  kept  stubbornly  at  it.  In 
words  that  sound  strangely  like  those  of 
Lee,  he  proposed  to  fight  it  out,  and  to 
fight  it  out  on  that  line.  He  seemed  to 
feel  that  the  cause  of  the  Union  had 
been  committed  to  him,  and  whatever  he 
spent,  he  would  take  care  of  it.  And  he 
did. 

This  method  of  singleness  and  thorough- 
ness received  no  finer  illustration  anywhere 
than  in  the  life  of  our  Lord.  As  He  en- 
tered upon  His  public  ministry,  there  were 
many  things  that  needed  to  be  done;  there 
were  many  things  that  He  could  do.  He 
might  have  commanded  that  stones  be 
99 


Two  Parables 

made  bread,  or  He  could  have  leaped  from 
the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  thus  have 
won  public  attention  and  a  certain  sort  of 
public  confidence.  He  might  have  obtained 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  upon  certain 
conditions.  He  could  have  put  Himself  in 
the  field  against  the  Roman  Government  at 
the  head  of  a  band  of  Hebrew  patriots, 
who  would  have  fought  to  the  death  for 
their  country's  freedom.  He  declined  all 
these.  He  came  to  do  a  certain  work,  and 
He  held  Himself  firmly,  evenly,  constantly 
to  that.  He  steadfastly  set  His  face  to  go 
to  Jerusalem,  to  go  to  Calvary,  to  go  any- 
where that  He  must  go,  in  order  to  accom- 
plish His  mission.  He  so  completely  ful- 
filled the  purpose  of  His  coming,  that  in 
His  last  prayer  He  could  look  up  and  say, 
"Father,  the  hour  is  come.  I  have  glorified 
Thee  on  the  earth.  I  have  finished  the 
work  which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do."  As 
He  hung  upon  the  cross,  He  could  confi- 
dently declare,  "It  is  finished!"  However 
great  the  cost,  He  did  what  He  came  to 

100 


Unto  the  End 

do,  and  brought  His  work  to  its  own  glori- 
ous completeness. 

It  is  well  said  in  the  Scriptures,  "to  every 
man  his  work,"  and  not  twenty  other  men's. 
The  ears  are  for  hearing,  and  we  never  cen- 
sure them  for  being  utterly  indifferent  to 
the  work  of  seeing ;  that  is  handed  over  to 
the  eyes.  When  each  member  does  its  work 
and  does  it  well,  the  body  rejoices  in  its  own 
well-rounded  life.  Men  who  are  out  of 
work  often  come  to  city  pastors.  One  of 
the  first  questions  we  ask  is,  "What  can  you 
do?"  "Oh,  I  can  do  anything,"  is  the 
common  reply.  Then  we  know  they  can 
do  nothing.  No  trade,  no  profession,  no 
business  well  learned,  no  specialty,  but  a 
vague  willingness  to  render  uncertain  and 
crippled  service  at  anything  that  will  give 
them  bread !  They  inevitably  become  the 
industrial  driftwood  of  all  our  cities.  "  'Tis 
in  ourselves  that  we  are  thus  or  thus."  A 
young  man  came  from  the  country  to  one 
of  the  cities  in  the  middle  west,  to  make  his 
fortune,  and  went  to  a  wise  old  merchant  to 

IOI 


Two  Parables 

ask  his  advice.  The  old  man's  first  inquiry 
was,  "What  can  you  do  and  do  well?" 
The  young  man  rather  smilingly  replied,  "I 
can  make  good  pickles;  I  used  to  make 
them  on  the  farm  and  for  the  country  store. 
But  of  course  I  would  not  want  to  do  that. 
I  think  I  should  like  to  be  a  lawyer,  or  a 
banker,  or  perhaps  a  writer  on  one  of  the 
city  newspapers."  The  shrewd  old  mer- 
chant eyed  him  still  more  closely  and  re- 
plied, "If  you  can  do  one  thing  and  do  it 
well,  bend  all  your  strength  to  that — make 
pickles."  The  young  man  had  the  good 
sense  to  follow  the  counsel;  his  bottles  are 
in  the  best  larders  all  over  the  land  to-day, 
and  he  has  retired  from  active  business 
with  a  solid  fortune. 

The  dabblers  and  triflers  contribute  little 
to  the  real  prosperity  of  the  community, 
and  they  secure  no  permanent  success  for 
themselves.  Concentration  is  a  funda- 
mental condition  of  genuine  progress.  The 
man  who  succeeds  is  the  man  who  resolves 
to  know  as  much  about  some  one  thing  as 

102 


Unto  the  End 

can  be  known.  The  man  who  determines 
to  learn  to  do  some  one  thing  so  that  it 
cannot  be  done  better,  will  have  a  chance 
to  do  it,  and  at  a  profit.  And  in  our  Chris- 
tian work  as  well,  God  loves  and  regards 
and  rewards  the  spirit  of  thoroughness. 
Take  hold  somewhere  and  begin  to  turn 
out  finished  work.  You  can  take  three 
minutes  in  the  prayer-meeting  and  resolve, 
by  thought,  and  prayer,  and  study  before- 
hand, that  you  will  fill  it  full  of  something 
that  will  help  and  bless  every  soul  present. 
You  can  take  the  spot  where  you  sit  now, 
and  fill  a  little  circle  there  full  of  genuine 
Christian  fellowship,  as  it  never  has  been 
filled  before.  You  can  know  the  people 
who  worship  near  you.  You  can  indicate, 
in  all  polite  and  gracious  ways,  to  the 
strangers  that  we  are  glad  to  see  them  in 
our  Father's  house.  You  can  turn  your 
attention  to  some  one  of  the  many  forms 
of  practical  work  in  which  we  are  engaged 
as  a  church,  and  strengthen  it  by  your  gifts, 
your  presence,  your  prayers,  and  your 
103 


Two  Parables 

labors.  Enter  where  you  see  an  opening, 
and  then  stay  until  you  have  carried 
through  some  piece  of  honest  Christian 
work  unto  the  end. 

I  would  plead  for  the  same  thoroughness 
in  arriving  at  one's  religious  convictions. 
We  have  slowly  passed  out  of  the  period 
where  people  regarded  all  important  religious 
questions  as  being  fully  understood  and 
settled.  The  whole  doctrinal  side  of  Chris- 
tianity is  being  rethought  and  restated  in  the 
interests  of  life  rather  than  in  the  interest 
of  some  preconceived  system.  The  whole 
method  of  biblical  interpretation  is  being 
revised  to  fit  the  facts  of  history  rather 
than  to  fit  some  prearranged  theory  of  in- 
spiration; and  to  minister  to  religious  ex- 
perience rather  than  to  fill  the  demand  for 
some  objective  infallible  standard.  We  are 
coming  to  believe  that  those  interpreta- 
tions of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  of 
the  words  of  inspired  men,  which  most 
inspire  us,  and  which,  by  the  test  of  time 
and  of  extended  experience,  prove  to  be 
104 


Unto  the  End 

most  fruitful  in  holy  life  and  service,  are 
the  ones  that  will  turn  out  to  be  correct. 
So  that  there  is  much  readjustment  and 
alteration  going  on  in  the  relation  of  part 
to  part  in  the  great  religious  structure 
where  we  live. 

One  result  of  this  enlargement  has  been 
a  certain  mental  laziness  on  the  part  of 
some  believers,  who  excuse  their  lounging 
position  by  claiming  that  since  we  cannot 
know  the  exact  and  absolute  truth,  a  stren- 
uous effort  is  hardly  worth  while.  It  is  a 
superficial  and  cowardly  claim.  "We  know 
in  part,"  as  Paul  reminded  us;  but  there  is 
a  part  which  we  can  know  and  live  by, 
which  we  can  bravely  use  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  for  the  good  of  our  brother  men. 
There  are  points  where  we  cannot  come  to 
final  conclusions,  and  many  of  our  convic- 
tions are  subject  to  revision  as  further  light 
falls  upon  the  word  and  the  work  of  God, 
from  that  light  which  lighteth  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world.  All  this 
is  true ;  but  it  is  no  less  true  that  it  is  possi- 
105 


Two  Parables 

ble  for  a  serious  man,  striving  to  do  the  will 
that  he  may  know  the  doctrine,  and  keeping 
his  heart  pure  that  he  may  see  God,  to 
come  to  a  foundation  that  standeth  sure. 
And  on  that  foundation  he  can  build  some- 
thing of  infinite  worth,  of  gold  or  of  silver 
or  of  precious  stones,  that  will  abide  the 
day  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Never  be 
willing  to  give  it  up!  Use  time,  and 
thought,  and  study,  and  prayer;  but  what- 
soever you  spend,  take  care  that  you  know 
the  truth  that  makes  men  free!  No  man 
can  understand  chemistry  without  looking 
into  it;  no  man  can  work  in  electricity 
without  a  vast  amount  of  study.  No  more 
can  a  religious  man  estimate  the  place  and 
potency  of  divine  grace,  the  method  and 
ability  of  that  power  of  God  which  is  unto 
salvation,  until  he  patiently  and  thoroughly 
seeks  to  know  what  may  be  known,  by  the 
revelation  God  has  given  us  of  Himself. 
Resolve  to  know  Him  in  whom  you  are 
asked  to  believe,  and  to  understand  why 

you     are    warranted    in    committing    your 
106 


Unto  the  End 

eternal  interests  unto  Him  against  that  day. 
Whatever  you.  spend  in  reaching  your  con- 
clusions, it  will  repay  you  if  you  carry 
your  effort  to  know  the  truth  even  unto  the 
end. 

What  is  true  of  work  and  of  belief  is 
equally  true  of  that  inner  life  which  consti- 
tutes the  real  character  of  the  man.  As  you 
read  your  Bible,  you  see  how  it  welcomes 
and  encourages  the  first  stirrings  of  moral 
effort.  It  is  as  gentle  as  a  nurse  with  the 
earliest  beginnings  of  Christian  life.  But  it 
also  invites,  nay,  summons  us  to  constantly 
aim  at  completeness  of  Christian  character. 
It  bids  us  increase  in  moral  stature,  and  in 
spiritual  wisdom,  and  in  favor  with  God  and 
man,  until  we  come  to  a  perfect  man,  to  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ.  It  labors  to  establish  men's  hearts 
in  unblamable  holiness  before  God.  It 
calls  upon  men  to  be  strong  in  the  grace 
that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  men  of  God 
may  be  thoroughly  furnished  unto  every 
good  work.  It  seems  to  join  hands  with 
107 


Two  Parables 

us,  saying,  ' '  Let  us  go  on ;  let  us  go  on  to 
perfection."  These  are  but  a  few  of  the 
many  high  summons  uttered  in  the  word 
of  God,  for  us  to  persevere,  whatsoever  we 
spend,  even  unto  the  end  of  holy  life. 

On  this,  the  first  Sunday  of  another  year, 
may  we  not  then  dedicate  ourselves  anew  to 
this  high  undertaking.  There  is  that  in  most 
of  you  that  claims  kinship  with  the  divine. 
It  brought  you  here  this  morning,  saying 
to  every  questioner,  "Wist  ye  not  that  I 
must  be  in  my  Father's  house."  It  looked 
up  a  moment  ago  claiming  the  attention  of 
the  Infinite,  when  it  prayed  and  said,  "Our 
Father."  It  will  go  out  presently  with  a 
sense  of  mission  from  on  high,  discharging 
its  duties  and  meeting  its  obligations,  rein- 
forced by  the  consciousness  that  it  can  say, 
"I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business." 
To  that  life  within  you  which  thus  asserts 
its  noble  kinship,  I  would  give  this  new 
year  counsel.  "Go  on  unto  perfection!" 
Be  ye  at  last  complete  as  your  Father 

which  is  in  heaven  is  complete.     Not  the 
108 


Unto  the  End 

purposes  and  aspirations  of  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary alone,  but  rather  the  finished  results 
of  the  last  of  December,  shall  secure  for 
you  the  place  from  which  you  are  to  go  no 
more  out.  The  day  will  declare  it,  the 
long  day  which  leads  up  to  the  night  that 
lies  between  us  and  an  eternal  morning. 
Whatsoever  thou  spendest,  take  care  of 
that  inner  life,  that  when  it  cometh  unto 
the  end,  it  may  be  " accounted  worthy  to 
stand  before  the  Son  of  Man,"  and  to  take 
its  place  among  those  "men  which  are 
made  after  the  likeness  of  God." 


109 


PART  II 


"A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  and  the  younger  of 
them  said  to  his  father,  Father,  give  me  the  portion  of 
goods  thatfalleth  to  me.  And  he  divided  unto  them 
his  living.  And  not  many  days  after,  the  younger 
son  gathered  all  together  and  took  his  journey  into  a 
far  country  and  there  wasted  his  substance  with 
riotous  living.  And  when  he  had  spent  all  there 
arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  land;  and  he  began  to 
be  in  want.  And  he  went  and  joined  himself  to  a 
citizen  of  that  country,  and  he  sent  him  into  his  fields 
to  feed  swine.  And  he  would  fain  have  filled  his 
belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine  did  eat,  and  no 
man  gave  unto  him.  And  when  he  came  to  himself, 
he  said,  How  many  hired  servants  of  my  father's 
have  bread  enough  and  to  spare ;  and  I  perish  with 
hunger.  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will 
say  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven 
and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called 
thy  son  ;  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants.  And 
he  arose  and  came  to  his  father,  But  when  he  was 
yet  a  great  way  off  his  father  saw  him  and  had  com- 
passion and  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him. 
And  the  son  said,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven  and  in  thy  sight  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be 
called  thy  son.  But  the  father  said  to  his  servants, 
Bring  forth  the  best  robe  and  put  it  on  him  ;  and  put 
a  ring  on  his  hand  and  shoes  on  his  feet ;  and  bring 
hither  the  fatted  calf  and  kill  it ;  and  let  us  eat  and 
be  merry ;  for  this  my  son  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again  ;  he  was  lost  and  is  found.  And  they  began  to 
be  merry" 


112 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

"Father,  give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth 
to  me." 

The  moment  the  younger  son  said  that 
he  became  a  prodigal.  His  heart  was 
already  in  a  far  country,  wasting  the  true 
substance  of  its  life  in  wrongdoing;  it  only 
remained  to  take  his  body  there  to  fulfill 
the  expressed  wish.  He  was  already  send- 
ing himself  into  the  fields  to  feed  life  on  its 
lower  levels,  and  his  better  nature  already 
" began  to  be  in  want."  When  any  man 
separates  himself  from  the  normal  relation- 
ships so  that  he  may  live  detached;  when 
he  takes  his  portion  of  time  and  strength 
out  from  under  the  eye  of  the  Father  and 
away  from  the  side  of  his  brother  man, 
he  begins  to  put  his  life  in  that  condi- 
tion which  this  parable  calls  "lost"  and 
"dead."  No  man  liveth  unto  himself — 


Two  Parables 

the  very  attempt  to  do  it  brings  the  death- 
sentence. 

One  of  the  first  statements  in  the  Bible 
about  the  well-being  of  man  is  that  "it  is 
not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone." 
It  refers  to  something  more  than  a  man's 
need  of  a  wife.  It  indicates  that  true  life 
is,  of  necessity,  social.  No  man  can  be  a 
complete  man  by  himself.  He  fulfills  him- 
self through  his  relations  with  others.  The 
joy,  strength  and  usefulness  of  your  life 
consist  in  the  fact  that  you  are  a  son,  a 
husband,  a  father,  a  neighbor,  an  employer, 
a  citizen,  a  church  member,  a  child  of  God. 
These  are  your  relationships;  they  tell  us 
that  you  are  not  alone.  You  could  not  be 
any  one  of  these  things  by  yourself.  We 
satisfy  our  wants  and  we  find  the  fields  of 
our  activity  through  the  mediation  of  so- 
ciety. "So  far  as  the  individual  is  con- 
cerned, his  highest  good  consists  in  making 
his  life  a  part  of  other  lives.  For,  both  man- 
ward  and  Godward,  a  man  is  essentially  a 
social  being  and  his  life  is  imperfect  in  the 
u4 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

same  proportion  as  it  is  not  in  union  with 
the  life  of  others."  Give  me  my  portion, 
therefore,  is  a  demand  for  the  impossible, 
and  it  must  end  in  disaster.  So  the  im- 
pulse for  separation,  which  claims  its  por- 
tion, only  to  take  it  off  into  a  far  country, 
is  an  impulse  toward  self-destruction. 
Presently  the  Father,  in  giving  an  account 
of  the  matter,  must  say  sorrowfully,  "This, 
my  son,  is  lost  and  dead." 

The  illustrations  of  this  truth  are  as 
extensive  as  the  field  of  life.  The  leaf  that 
plucks  itself  from  the  tree,  ceasing  to  feed 
and  to  be  fed  by  the  tree,  and  to  share  in 
its  total  life,  ceases  to  be  a  leaf.  Dust  it 
was  and  unto  dust  it  returns  when  it  parts 
with  its  real  life  by  the  demand  for  sepa- 
rateness.  If  the  rosebud,  just  approaching 
its  supreme  beauty,  should  say,  "Give  me 
the  portion  of  rosebush  that  falleth  to  me, ' ' 
and  should  cut  off  its  special  twig,  the  un- 
folding would  stop.  No  branch  can  have 
life,  to  say  nothing  of  having  it  in  sufficient 
abundance  to  bring  forth  fruit,  except  it 
"5 


Two  Parables 

abide  in  the  vine.  And  in  the  kingdom  of 
the  spirit,  unless  a  man  accepts  and  main- 
tains the  relation  of  loving  obedience  to 
God,  and  of  useful  service  to  his  fellows, 
his  life  will  not  come  to  its  power  and  fruit- 
fulness.  Only  as  he  fulfills  his  part  and  is  a 
useful  function  or  member  of  that  by  which 
he  lives,  is  he  able  to  serve  men  and  to 
glorify  God;  only  as  he  does  that,  is  he 
able  to  live  a  man's  life. 

All  forms  of  what  we  call  vice  are  but 
the  outer  manifestations  of  the  selfish  and 
the  mean  spirit.  They  flourish  in  the  soil 
of  the  human  heart  that  is  base  enough  to 
say,  Give  me  my  coveted  gratification,  re- 
gardless of  its  effect  upon  the  lives  of 
others.  The  intemperate  man  will  imperil 
his  health  of  body  and  soul,  the  peace  and 
prosperity  of  his  home,  his  standing  in  so- 
ciety, and  his  fitness  to  work  out  an  honor- 
able success,  all  for  the  sake  of  tickling  for 
a  moment  his  own  palate  and  of  feeling 
an  exhilarating  warmth  in  his  personal 
stomach.  He  has  truly  shrunk  to  small 
116 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

proportions  when  he  can  say,  Give  me  this, 
even  though  the  other  and  larger  interests 
are  sacrificed.  The  claim  has  been  made 
that  the  very  beginning  of  all  moral  evil  is 
the  willingness  to  draw  a  tight  circle  around 
the  small  share  of  gratification  that  can  fall 
to  the  personal  account,  thus  ignoring  the 
wider  values  that  are  involved.  Certain  it 
is  that  the  man  saying,  Give  me  my  por- 
tion, speedily  becomes  a  low  outcast,  while 
the  man  saying,  Make  me  a  servant  of 
the  general  good,  becomes  a  beloved  and 
honored  son. 

A  man's  habitual  attitude  toward  the 
world  in  this  regard,  then,  is  of  vital  impor- 
tance. Does  he  make  his  standing  request, 
"Give  me  for  my  private  and  exclusive  use, 
the  portion  of  goods  that  falls  to  me  as  a  re- 
sult of  my  ability  and  industry?"  If  the  key- 
note of  his  activity  is  "Give  me,"  you  have 
told  us  the  character  of  the  man.  He  may, 
indeed,  never  claim  a  penny  that  does  not 
legally  belong  to  him.  He  may  use  part 
of  his  portion  in  providing  for  his  family. 
117 


Two  Parables 

He  may  give  some  of  it  to  benevolent 
objects.  But  if  he  enters  the  business 
world  simply  saying,  "Give  me,"  he  will 
certainly  disregard  others,  and  will  crowd 
them  to  the  wall  if  they  are  in  his  way.  He 
will  hire  men,  thinking  more  of  what  their 
service  will  do  for  him  than  of  what  his 
employ  will  do  for  them.  He  will  move 
about  spending  his  money  so  that  it  will 
gratify  him  without  pausing  to  ask  whether 
the  activities  set  in  motion  are  for  the  good 
of  the  community.  His  dominant  note 
throughout  will  be  like  the  demand  of  the 
prodigal,  "Give  me." 

How  different  all  that  is  from  the  utter- 
ance of  our  Lord!  His  command  was 
when  ye  pray — and  when  ye  live,  for  a  man's 
prayer  is  not  a  prayer  unless  he  tries  to 
live  as  he  prays — say,  "Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread."  A  Christian  man  will  go  into 
the  world  of  industry  asking  for  success  and 
prosperity;  asking  it  for  himself  and  ask- 
ing it,  in  the  same  breath,  for  his  neighbor. 
As  he  buys  and  sells,  as  he  employs  and 
118 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

discharges,  he  will  be  constantly  saying, 
Give  us.  He  looks  not  only  upon  his  own 
things,  but  also  upon  the  things  of  others. 
In  the  whole  conduct  of  his  life,  as  well  as 
when  he  engages  in  the  work  of  charity,  he 
is  taking  his  neighbor  into  account  and 
actually  loving  him !  The  request  he  makes 
of  the  world  about  him  is,  not  "Give  him" 
nor  "Give  me,"  but  "Give  us."  Jesus  was  . 
too  wise  to  ever  tell  men  to  love  their 
neighbors  and  not  themselves.  That  would 
be  a  false  and  impossible  rule  of  conduct. 
Love  your  neighbors  with  yourselves.  In 
the  selection  of  principles  and  methods, 
make  the  whole  attitude  of  your  life  and 
the  social  request  you  utter,  not,  Give  me, 
but  rather,  Give  us. 

There  are  times  when  we  all  behave  with 
one  accord  as  Christians.  The  selfish  de- 
mand, Give  me,  is  easily  subordinate  to  the 
nobler  request,  Give  us.  We  do  that  in 
church.  We  do  it  at  the  table.  In  a  well- 
behaved  family  each  member  very  naturally 

feels  that  his  own  need  must  be  supplied. 
119 


Two  Parables 

But  there  is  also  a  constant  watchful  in- 
terest in  having  the  needs  of  others  sup- 
plied. The  self-interest  and  the  altruism 
are  combined  and  balanced.  Each  is  con- 
scious that  in  the  father's  house  there  is 
bread  enough  and  to  spare  for  all  the  chil- 
dren, and  even  for  the  higher  servants.  For 
any  one  to  seize  upon  and  separate  his  por- 
tion in  utter  disregard  of  the  others  would 
put  our  eating  on  the  same  level  with  the 
feeding  of  animals.  And  when  we  have 
eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear,  we  shall  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  this  big  world  is  our 
Father's  house.  There  is  bread  enough, 
and  joy  enough,  and  grace  enough  and 
to  spare.  All  greedy,  cruel  selfishness  is 
unseemly  and  unnecessary,  and  it  is  most 
hateful  in  the  eyes  of  the  Father.  Each 
man  will  become  a  true  man  just  in  pro- 
portion as  he  organizes  himself  with  other 
men  and  makes  the  real  demand  of  his  life, 
Give  us — all  the  men  and  women  with 
whom  I  am  related — the  daily  bread  that 
will  satisfy  our  utmost  needs. 
1 20 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

The  word  "social"  is,  perhaps,  being  over- 
worked. We  have  social  Christianity,  so- 
cial aspects  of  religion,  social  service,  social 
regeneration.  It  is  overworked  because 
there  has  been  a  long  accumulation  of 
tasks  left  undone.  We  have  passed  through 
the  age  of  despotism  when  the  monarch 
stood  alone  and  said,  Give  ME.  We  are 
now  passing  through  the  age  of  individual- 
ism when  in  freedom  and  equality  each 
man  may  say  the  same.  We  are  entering 
upon  the  age  of  mutualism  when  the  com- 
bined request  of  all  will  be,  Give  us.  No 
man  should  desire  a  personal  success,  a 
personal  happiness,  a  personal  culture,  or 
even  a  personal  salvation,  that  does  not  also 
include  and  make  contribution  to  the  success, 
happiness,  culture,  and  salvation  of  us  all. 
The  man  who  makes  it  his  chief  business  to 
ask  and  carry  off  the  portion  that  falls  to 
him  must  give  place  to  the  man  whose  chief 
joy  consists  in  the  wide  and  gracious  answers 
coming  all  the  time  to  that  nobler  request 
for  the  social  and  corporate  weal. 

121 


Two  Parables 

The  procession  where  it  is  "every  man 
for  himself/'  is  a  procession  managed  and 
driven  by  the  devil,  who  is  at  the  rear  for 
the  express  purpose  of  taking  in  the  hind- 
most. Each  for  all  and  all  for  each,  would 
be  the  Christian  form  of  it.  By  this  I 
mean  no  foolish  or  impracticable  commun- 
ism, but  rather,  under  whatever  form  of 
industrial  organism  we  may  be  living,  the 
steady  cultivation  of  a  large-minded  way  of 
considering  the  effect  of  one's  life  upon  the 
lives  of  others  who  are  involved  with  us. 
A  man  may  choose  his  business,  treat  his 
employer  or  his  employ^,  select  his  amuse- 
ments, spend  his  money,  saying,  Give  me 
the  objects  of  my  desire,  regardless  of  the 
effect  of  my  activity;  or,  he  may  order  all 
these  parts  of  his  life  with  reference  to  the 
welfare  of  those  who  become  concerned 
with  him  in  the  effect  of  the  transactions. 
One  of  the  ugliest  things  in  the  rum  busi- 
ness is  the  brute  selfishness  of  it.  The  man 
on  one  side  of  the  bar  says,  Give  me  the 
exultation  that  comes  from  semi-intoxica- 

122 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

tion,  regardless  of  the  loss  and  disaster  that 
come  to  my  home.  The  man  on  the  other 
side  cries,  Give  me  gain,  even  though  he 
sees  that  it  is  the  devil's  own  business, 
wrecking  the  health,  reason,  prosperity, 
family  peace,  and  moral  natures  of  those  on 
whom  he  depends  for  custom.  Nothing 
but  the  narrowest,  coldest,  lowest  selfish- 
ness could  seek  its  gain  by  such  wanton 
disregard  of  the  effects  of  one's  business 
and  life  work. 

One  of  the  great  objects  of  the  work  of 
Jesus  was  to  teach  us  to  take  others  into 
account.  He  wrote  the  word  "my"  in 
small  letters,  the  word  "our"  in  large  capi- 
tals. To  make  His  personal  example  a 
striking  lesson,  He  held  no  property  in  His 
own  right.  Every  pair  of  foxes  in  Pales- 
tine had  a  hole,  and  each  pair  of  birds  a 
nest;  but  the  Son  of  Man  had  not  where  to 
lay  His  head.  He  did  not  command  His 
first  followers  to  copy  this  course  to  the 
letter.  Following  Christ  is  not  wearing 
such  clothing  as  He  wore,  or  speaking  the 
123 


Two  Parables 

language  He  spoke,  or  painfully  imitating 
the  outward  details  of  His  life.  It  is  rather 
the  gaining  of  His  spirit,  and  the  making  of 
our  lives  into  an  expression  of  that  spirit, 
with  such  clothing,  and  language,  and  in- 
dustrial system  as  may  be  in  vogue  in 
our  own  day.  But  His  aim  in  His  min- 
istry was  to  accustom  us  to  say,  "Our 
Father;"  to  work,  saying,  "Give  us  our  daily 
bread;"  to  be  patient  with  the  faults  of 
others,  saying,  "Forgive  us  our  faults;"  and 
to  hold  such  an  attitude  toward  the  things 
that  make  for  evil  as  would  say  plainly, 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us."  The  whole  aim  was  to  give  us  a  sense 
of  our  corporate  life  and  to  set  us  praying, 
thinking,  and  working  for  the  good  of  all. 
This  social  aspect  of  religion  is  said  to  be 
peculiar  to  Christianity.  We  are  often  told 
that  one  man  and  God  could  give  us  an 
illustration  of  many  religions,  because  there 
a  man's  religion  consists  entirely  in  his  rela- 
tion to  the  object  of  his  worship.  His 

prayers,  his  observances,  and  his  ceremonies 
124 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

constitute  his  religion.  But  God  and  two 
men  would  be  required  for  an  object-lesson 
in  Christianity.  No  man  can  show  you 
what  the  Christian  religion  is  until  he  has  a 
Father  whom  he  can  love  with  all  his  heart, 
and  with  all  his  mind,  and  with  all  his 
strength,  and  a  neighbor  whom  he  can  love 
as  he  loves  himself. 

The  title  that  Jesus  commonly  used  in  . 
speaking  of  Himself  was  The  Son  of  Man. 
It  was  no  robbery  nor  a  prize  to  be  grasped 
for  Him  to  be  on  an  equality  with  God,  to 
be  the  Only  Begotten  Son  of  God.  But  in 
the  first  three  Gospels  almost  a  hundred 
times  He  calls  Himself  The  Son  of  Man, 
and  never  once  the  Son  of  God.  It  would 
seem  that  He  sought  to  more  closely  identify 
Himself  with  us  by  His  designation  of  Him- 
self to  the  end  that  He  might  say,  not,  "Give 
Me,"  as  the  Son  of  God,  but,  "Give us," — 
the  Son  of  Man  speaking  in  common  request 
with  the  sons  of  men.  You  remember  the 
mutualism  in  His  last  prayer:  " Father, 
glorify  Thy  Son  that  Thy  Son  may  also 
"5 


Two  Parables 

glorify  Thee/*  And  then  He  looked  upon 
His  disciples  and  prayed,  "Father,  I  will 
that  they  be  with  Me  where  I  am,  that  the 
love  wherewith  Thou  hast  loved  Me  may  be 
in  them."  He  could  not  make  request  even 
in  that  sacred  hour  without  including  them 
and  without  lifting  them  up  for  a  blessing, 
such  as  He  prayed  for  Himself :  ' '  That  they 
may  be  one  as  we  are  one,  I  in  them  and 
Thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be  one  in  Us." 
The  true  aim  of  life  is  not  a  separate  or 
closet  saintliness,  but  a  goodness  that  is  of 
service  in  the  concrete  relations  of  husband 
and  wife,  parent  and  child,  employer  and 
employe",  neighbor  and  citizen.  Much  of 
the  best  moral  discipline  we  receive  comes 
from  the  compulsory  surrender  of  our  self- 
ish whims  and  caprices,  and  the  consequent 
accommodation  of  ourselves  to  the  rights  of 
others,  that  is  involved  in  being  active, 
participating  members  of  society.  The 
highest  achievement  in  Christian  living  is 
to  become  a  normal  and  useful  function 
in  the  organized  life  of  men.  In  a  mass  of 
126 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

iron  dust,  so  long  as  each  atom  says,  "Give 
me  my  separate  place, ' '  the  whole  is  useless. 
Once  melted  into  unity  and  brought  to  the 
point  where  each  atom  is  merged,  with  its 
fellows,  into  an  iron  bar,  they  all  find  their 
usefulness  as  the  iron  bar  becomes  the 
piston-rod  turning  the  wheels  of  industry, 
or  sings  in  the  saw  that  turns  out  the  lum- 
ber for  a  man's  home.  Nothing  short  of 
the  union  of  one's  personal  interests  with 
the  interests  of  his  fellowmen  in  the  affairs 
of  common  life  will  secure  the  sort  of  char- 
acter Jesus  came  to  introduce.  The  organ- 
ized man  with  social  interests  and  social 
affections  co-operating  with  other  lives  from 
whom  he  freely  takes  and  to  whom  he 
freely  gives,  and  with  whom  he  accomp- 
lishes the  great  purposes  of  life,  alone 
reveals  the  true  glory  of  the  individual. 

As  a  consequence,  union  is  not  only 
strength,  it  is  life.  While  I  am  physically 
alive,  the  different  members  and  various 
atoms  composing  my  body  are  held  in  organ- 
ized unity.  The  eye  does  the  seeing  for  itself 
127 


Two  Parables 

and  for  the  whole  body,  directing  it  in  the 
way  of  safety  and  usefulness.  The  ears 
hear  for  the  body,  the  feet  walk  for  the 
body,  and  the  mouth  gives  the  body  utter- 
ance. When  death  comes  there  is  no 
longer  this  organized  unity.  The  body 
separates  and  returns  to  the  dust  as  it  was. 
Separation  is  death,  and  death  is  separation. 
When  your  mind  says,  "Give  me  reading  and 
study  for  my  own  sake,"  it  too  goes  into  a 
far  country  and  wastes  its  substance.  When 
your  love  nature  is  all  turned  within  and 
expends  itself  upon  itself,  it  is  already  be- 
ginning to  be  in  want,  and  presently  will  be 
ready  to  fill  itself  with  the  husks  the  swine 
eat.  To  be  separate  anywhere  is  to  be  lost 
and  dead.  To  be  united  with  others  in  the 
common  life  is  to  be  found  and  to  be  alive 
again. 

On  the  physical  plane,  we  all  know  that 
the  single  life  is  barren.  It  is  only  by  the 
union  of  life  with  life  that  fruitfulness  is 
attained.  We  are  thus  given  a  most  signifi- 
cant hint.  A  man  becomes  his  complete  self 
128 


^\ 

F 

I  UNIVERSIT 

The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

and  helps  to  hand  on  life  only  through  co- 
operation. And  in  the  same  way,  if  you 
detach  yourself  from  family  life,  from  so- 
ciety, from  the  life  of  the  city,  the  state, 
the  church,  your  efforts  will  become  un- 
fruitful; you  will  grow  smaller  and  smaller 
until  only  a  human  speck  remains,  and  at 
your  death  all  vestige  of  your  life  will  seem 
to  vanish.  The  man  who  lives  eternally  is 
the  man  who  completes  himself  by  fellow- 
ship. To  know  the  true  God  and  to  know 
the  Son  of  Man,  whom  He  has  sent,  by 
entering  into  the  helpful  service  of  the  sons 
of  men,  is  eternal  life,  and  nothing  short  of 
that  can  be. 

,  We  see  men  all  around  us  here  who  are 
living  on  a  far-away  island.  They  get  the 
mail;  they  read  the  daily  papers;  they 
come  and  go  without  waiting  for  a  sailing 
day.  But  in  their  isolation  of  sympathy 
and  interest,  in  their  separateness  from  the 
helpful  activity  of  the  community,  in  their 
insistent  demand  that  they  shall  be  let 
alone,  they  are  lonely  Crusoes,  without  even 
129 


Two  Parables 

a  man  Friday  to  relieve  the  situation. 
The  scientists  have  shown  us  the  effect  of 
such  "island  life."  When  Australia  was 
cut  off  from  the  mainland,  animal  progress 
had  not  as  yet  reached  the  stage  of  mam- 
mals. And  this  great  island,  being  sepa- 
rated from  the  current  of  advancement, 
developed  nothing  beyond  marsupials.  So 
when  it  was  discovered,  the  only  mammals 
found  were  a  few  rats,  supposed  to  have  come 
ashore  from  a  sinking  ship.  Thus  isolation 
and  separateness  in  the  mass  or  in  the  indi- 
vidual produce  cases  of  arrested  develop- 
ment. 

We  also  see  the  penalty  of  separateness 
in  the  condition  of  the  man  who  refuses  to 
unite  with  the  church.  He  sees  that 
church  membership  entails  obligations, 
some  of  them  financial  and  social,  others 
intellectual  and  moral.  He  declines  these, 
and  decides  to  remain  outside.  He  may 
drop  in  and  take  a  religious  meal  with  you 
now  and  then,  but  he  never  finds  his  regu- 
lar place  at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  He 
130 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

takes  what  portion  of  spiritual  food  he  may 
lay  hands  upon,  and  carries  it  away  to 
appropriate  it  alone.  But  he  will  soon 
spend  all  and  begin  to  be  in  want.  You 
will  be  apt  to  find  him  at  last  in  some 
strange  field,  wishing  he  might  satisfy 
his  hunger  by  some  unnatural  food  never 
intended  for  the  soul  of  man.  You  regret 
that  he  did  not  come  into  some  one  of  his 
Father's  houses  and  find  at  His  table  bread 
enough  and  to  spare.  All  these  years  he 
might  have  been  serving  Him  as  a  son,  and 
rejoicing  in  the  fact  that  all  that  the  Father 
hath  is  for  the  help  of  His  children. 

We  see  the  bane  of  this  selfish  demand 
sometimes  in  the  church  itself.  If  some 
member  in  the  secret  of  his  own  heart  is 
habitually  saying,  "Give  me  my  share  of  the 
offices,  my  portion  of  honor  and  attention;" 
if  he  is  watching  closely  for  slights,  if  he  is 
waiting  for  people  to  bring  him  the  portion 
of  social  goods  that  falleth  to  him,  he  is 
already  on  the  borders  of  the  far  country. 
The  only  blessed  way  to  live  in  the  church  is 
131 


Two  Parables 

to  make  the  keynote  of  one's  constant  re- 
quest, "Give  us,  as  a  church,  the  peace  and 
joy,  the  strength  and  usefulness  that  falleth 
to  us."  The  personal  demand  must  be 
merged  in  a  prayer  for  the  general  good. 
He  that  loses  his  life  in  striving  for  the  gen- 
eral welfare,  shall  save  it;  and  the  man  who 
keeps  his  life  separate  and  jealously  guards 
it,  shall  lose  it. 

That  narrow  conception  of  salvation 
where  each  man  is  making  an  unceasing  and 
desperate  struggle  for  his  own  eternal  bliss, 
no  longer  appeals  to  men.  Tertullian  might 
picture  the  redeemed  saints  walking  in  the 
cool  of  the  evening  along  the  battlements  of 
heaven,  and  being  able  from  that  safe  vant- 
age ground  to  see  the  suffering  of  the  lost 
souls  in  hell.  He  might  picture  them  sing- 
ing additional  praise  to  God,  through  the 
deeper  sense  of  their  own  blessedness 
brought  out  by  the  sight  of  the  contrast. 
But  such  a  picture  would  simply  disgust 
and  repel  the  Christian  congregation  in  a 
modern  church.  It  is  not  the  gross  liter- 
's2 


The  Sinful  Demand  for  Separateness 

alness,  but  the  immorality  of  it  that  offends 
the  conscience  of  to-day.  The  first  feeling 
in  the  hearts  of  the  righteous,  as  we  under- 
stand righteousness,  would  not  be  self-con- 
gratulation, but  an  impulse  to  organize  a 
rescue  mission.  Unless  there  was  a  great 
and  impassable  gulf  fixed,  the  righteous 
would  spend  their  lives  not  in  growing  con- 
tent, but  in  a  sacrifice  to  bring  help  and 
deliverance  to  their  unhappy  fellows. 

The  seed  of  the  separate,  selfish,  detached 
life  must  fall  into  the  ground  and  die.  If 
it  die,  it  will  bring  forth  the  fruit  of  a  social 
and  serving  nature.  It  will  no  longer  seek 
to  claim  protected  immunity  from  the 
burden  and  struggle  of  common  life.  It 
will  count  it  all  joy  to  become  a  loyal, 
hearty  member  of  the  social  order.  It  will 
cast  in  its  lot  with  its  fellows,  in  an  effort 
to  make  this  world  God's  world,  and  to 
enable  the  children  of  men  to  live  as  the 
children  of  God. 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

"And  he  began  to  be  in  want." 

The  story  is  a  miniature  painting  of  our 
human  experience.  The  race  begins  life  in 
its  Father's  house  when  " heaven  lies  about 
us  in  our  infancy."  While  we  are  children 
it  can  be  said  of  us  that  of  such  is  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Then  we  gradually 
or  suddenly  take  our  portion  of  goods  off 
into  a  far  country  and  begin  to  live  after 
the  devices  and  desires  of  our  own  hearts. 
We  waste  the  real  substance  of  ourselves  by 
disobedient  living.  Then  there  comes  a 
time  when  we  "begin  to  be  in  want."  The' 
animal  food  and  the  low  companions  of  the 
far  country  are  not  enough.  We  long  for 
our  Father,  and  if  we  follow  the  line  of  the 
parable,  we  arise  and  go  to  Him  with  con- 
fessions on  our  lips  and  new  purposes  in  our 
134 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

hearts.  The  turning  point  with  the  young 
man,  however,  was  when  "he  began  to  be 
in  want."  The  discovery  of  an  unsatisfied 
need  was  the  first  potent  incentive  to  a 
better  life. 

The  rude  savage  in  the  darkest  part  of 
Africa  is  probably  more  contented  than  any 
man  or  woman  here  to-day.  He  is  more 
nearly  satisfied  with  himself  and  with  his 
situation  than  the  richest  or  the  most  culti- 
vated among  you.  He  does  not  feel  the 
unrest  and  ambition  that  troubles  you. 
That  is  the  sad  fact  in  the  case.  He  will 
make  no  progress  until  he  is  brought  under 
the  spell  of  discontent.  But  some  teacher 
or  some  missionary  comes  upon  him  and, 
through  precept  and  example,  lifts  before 
him  a  higher  form  of  life.  New  ideas  com- 
mence to  get  in  on  him,  and  he  begins  to  be 
in  want.  He  is  blessed  by  "a  presence 
that  disturbs  him"  with  the  sight  of  higher 
things.  He  wants  a  shirt — he  got  on  very 
well  before  unclad ;  but  now  his  awakened 
sense  of  decency,  and  his  better  apprecia- 


Two  Parables 

tion  of  adornment,  demand  clothing.  Next 
he  wants  better  facilities  for  cooking  his 
food ;  then  he  wants  a  house ;  presently  he 
wants  a  book,  and  then  a  Bible,  and  per- 
haps a  Church.  The  growth  and  awakening 
of  the  man  is  indicated  by  this  growing  dis- 
covery of  needs.  When  at  last  in  every 
part  of  his  nature  he  has  learned  to  be  in 
want,  and  when  the  essential  needs  of  his 
human  life  are  all  demanding  their  appro- 
priate satisfaction,  then  he  is  in  the  way  of 
progress  and  of  the  attainment  of  his  own 
completeness. 

You  find  the  same  story  in  the  unfolding 
of  child-life.  The  history  of  the  baby  from 
soft,  pulpy  infancy,  to  sturdy,  mature  man- 
hood, is  the  story  of  a  constantly  increasing 
discovery  of  needs.  All  the  baby  wanted 
at  first  was  milk  and  a  soft,  warm  place  to 
sleep.  Then  he  began  to  be  in  want  of 
toys,  simple,  primitive,  indestructible  ones 
at  first.  He  soon  outgrew  these  and  de- 
manded amusement  on  a  higher  level.  Then 
he  wanted  the  companionship  of  his  peers — 
136 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

other  children  must  be  found  to  serve  as 
playmates.  Then  he  wanted  pictures,  then 
stories,  then  books.  His  ever-expanding 
needs  gradually  came  to  include  games, 
exercise,  teachers,  society,  the  state,  the 
church,  at  last  a  family  of  his  own.  Every 
year  opened  another  mouth  in  some  part  of 
his  life.  He  was  constantly  beginning  to 
be  in  want  of  something  more,  to  enable 
him  to  live  his  complete  life;  and  his  ever- 
increasing  wants  make  up  the  story  of  his 
advance. 

The  Scriptures  throughout  recognize  that 
"he  began  to  be  in  want"  is  a  most  hope- 
ful statement.  Hunger  is  a  sign  of  health, 
a  prophecy  of  growth  and  strength. 
"Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness/'  Blessed  are  the  men 
who  feel  empty  and  weak  on  account  of 
their  lack  of  goodness;  the  men  whose 
mouths  water  at  the  sight  of  real  righteous- 
ness; the  men  who  have  an  inner  gnawing 
and  uneasiness  prompting  them  to  secure 
more  of  it!  These  are  the  men  who  "shall 


Two  Parables 

be  filled."  The  "woe"  is  ever  unto  them 
that  be  "full;"  the  blessing  is  always  upon 
those  that  are  "in  want." 

Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to 
pray.  One  of  them  was  a  Pharisee.  He 
was  not  in  want.  He  came  in  expressly  to 
tell  his  Maker  how  well  fed  he  was;  how 
satisfied  in  respect  to  his  righteousness.  He 
reads  off  the  bill  of  fare  that  he  had  gone 
through.  He  was  not  an  extortioner,  nor 
an  adulterer,  nor  an  unjust  man,  as  some 
other  men  are ;  nor  was  he  like  that  pub- 
lican back  there.  He  had  fasted  twice  that 
week,  and  he  had  given  a  tenth  of  all  he 
possessed.  There  was  no  hunger  there,  no 
want.  He  felt  so  full  of  righteousness  that 
he  would  have  refused  another  mouthful. 
The  other  man  felt  so  empty,  hungry,  and 
mean,  he  could  not  stand  up  straight.  He 
could  not  so  much  as  look  up  or  lift  up  his 
eyes  unto  heaven.  He  stood  afar  off  and 
smote  upon  his  breast  and  cried  in  his  great 
need,  "God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner!  " 
And  the  man  in  sore  want  went  down  to  his 
138 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

house  justified  rather  than  the  other. 
Moral  progress  is  always  made  by  those 
who  are  in  want,  and  not  by  those  who  feel 
that  they  are  ethically  well  to  do. 

Want  is  everywhere  a  hopeful  sign.  St. 
Paul  was  passing  through  Athens.  It  had 
its  three  thousand  gods,  so  that  the  wits 
claimed  it  was  easier  to  find  a  god  than  a 
man.  He  felt  his  spirit  stirred  within  him 
as  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry. 
But  presently  he  "  found  an  altar  with  this 
inscription,  To  THE  UNKNOWN  GOD." 
Here  was  an  encouraging  symptom !  Here 
was  touching  evidence  that  certain  souls  did 
not  find  in  any  of  the  named  and  sculptured 
deities,  the  satisfaction  for  their  need! 
There  was  still  in  Athens  a  hand  reaching 
out  empty;  an  eye  peering  into  the  dark- 
ness and  not  finding  the  object  of  its  search ; 
a  heart  unfed  and  crying  for  a  god  as  yet 
"Unknown."  If  Athens  was  "in  want"  of 
some  object  of  worship  that  it  did  not 
know,  there  was  hope.  Paul  seized  upon 
it  for  his  text.  He  brought  his  bread  of 
139 


Two  Parables 

life  to  the  place  where  he  found  an  unfilled 
mouth.  This  God  whom  ye  long  for  in 
ignorance,  he  cried,  "Him  declare  I  unto 
you." 

When  your  physician  comes  to  see  you, 
he  always  asks  at  once,  "How  is  your 
appetite?"  If  you  have  none  at  all,  you 
are  a  sick  man.  If  your  appetite  is  un- 
certain, fitful,  whimsical,  and  does  not  call 
for  the  right  things,  your  body  is  out  of 
order.  An  able-bodied,  healthy  man  be- 
gins to  be  in  want  of  good,  wholesome  food 
three  times  a  day.  That  is  one  of  the  in- 
dications that  he  is  in  good  health.  That 
is  also  the  first  question  the  minister  asks: 
Have  you  a  good  appetite?  Do  you 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness?  All 
healthy  men  do.  Is  your  heart  athirst  for 
the  living  God?  The  souls  of  all  men 
except  those  who  are  diseased,  cry  out  for 
this  communion  with  the  Father.  For  all 
men  and  women  who  aim  to  live  complete 
lives,  righteousness  is  a  necessity;  religion 
is  obligatory  in  the  same  way  that  food  is 
140 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

obligatory.  The  satisfactions  to  be  found 
in  religion  are  not  thrust  upon  us  by  arbi- 
trary command ;  they  are  demanded  by  our 
human  nature  when  it  is  acting  normally. 
Do  you  find  that  regularly  you  begin  to  be 
in  want  of  the  word  of  God,  of  the  com- 
panionship of  your  Father,  of  the  bread 
from  His  own  table?  If  your  appetite  is 
keen,  strong,  natural,  demanding  the  food 
that  is  needful  for  the  life  of  a  complete 
man,  that  fact  is  full  of  promise.  But,  if 
on  the  other  hand  you  feel  satisfied,  or  if 
your  taste  and  palate  are  whimsical  and 
love  the  unnatural,  highly-seasoned  things 
of  worldliness  and  ungodliness,  rather  than 
the  plainer  fare  of  noble  living,  you  are 
morally  deranged. 

The  most  discouraging  sight  we  have 
to  face  is  not  that  of  some  poor  man  with 
yearnings  and  longings  that  perhaps  he  will 
never  be  able  to  satisfy  in  this  world.  He 
may  be  living  in  a  small  house,  wearing 
patched  clothes,  eating  coarse  food;  but  if 
he  is  a  man  hungry  all  the  while  for  the 
141 


Two  Parables 

real  things  of  life,  he  is  a  merchant  prince 
compared  with  the  man  who  feels  that  he 
has  already  attained  about  all  that  heart 
can  wish.  In  the  book  of  Revelation,  we 
are  called  upon  to  pity  and  to  pray  for  a 
man  whom  the  world  does  not  often  regard 
as  pitiable.  Our  sympathy  is  asked  for  the 
one  who  says,  "I  am  rich  and  increased 
with  goods  and  have  need  of  nothing." 
The  last  three  words  tell  us  in  what  a  des- 
perate, wretched  state  the  man  was.  Need 
of  nothing!  If  a  boy  feels  that  neither  his 
father  nor  mother  nor  any  of  his  elder 
friends  can  tell  him  anything,  that  he  un- 
derstands the  situation  perfectly,  we  are 
quite  in  despair  over  him.  If  a  man  reaches 
the  point  where  he  feels  that  he  is  "good 
enough"  without  the  grace  of  God,  and 
without  the  benefits  that  come  through 
prayer  and  Christian  service,  we  are  dis- 
tressed over  the  outlook  for  him.  The 
most  discouraging  person  here  to-day  is  one 
whose  habitual  feeling  is,  "I  have  need  of 
nothing. ' ' 

143 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

When  you  go  through  the  underground 
section  of  Chinatown,  the  saddest  fact  is 
not  that  our  fellowmen  are  living  there  like 
rats  in  a  hole;  living  so  that  the  entire 
circle  of  wants  can  be  met  by  a  little  cheap 
food,  a  narrow,  dirty  place  to  sleep,  and  a 
few  low  gratifications.  The  saddest  fact  is 
that  they  like  it  and  are  contented  with  it, 
and  resist  the  attempts  of  the  officers  of 
the  law  to  compel  any  change.  They  do 
not  feel  that  they  are  in  want.  They  are 
not  pleading  with  the  associated  charities 
to  come  and  rescue  them.  There  is  no 
Chinese  cry  for  a  sanitary  commission  to 
let  in  light  and  air.  Their  placid  and  stub- 
born satisfaction  is  one  of  the  piteous  ele- 
ments in  the  situation.  Indeed,  the  Chi- 
nese race  is  one  of  the  most  complacent  of 
peoples.  They  can  live  on  little  and  be 
content.  Their  very  faces  show  it.  It 
militates  against  their  progress.  The  rest- 
lessness and  discontent  that  mark  the 
western  races  would  be  a  hopeful  symptom 
in  the  Chinese.  If  all  those  lives  yonder 
'43 


Two  Parables 

in  Chinatown  could  be  roused  so  that  they 
would  begin  to  be  in  want  of  better  food, 
more  house  room,  more  daylight  and  more 
fresh  air,  more  books  and  pictures,  more  of 
everything  that  ministers  to  the  total  life, 
a  shout  of  rejoicing  would  go  up  from  all 
who  are  interested  on  their  behalf ! 

The  men  who  change  the  world  are  the 
hungry  men ;  the  agitating,  inventive,  revo- 
lutionary men;  the  men  who  cannot  rest 
until  they  have  sought  to  transform  bad 
into  good,  and  good  into  better,  and  better 
into  best.  Caesar,  with  an  eye  to  gathering 
the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  great 
hands,  and  casting  about  for  the  possible 
sources  of  opposition,  says: 

Let  me  have  men  about  me  that  are  fat: 
Sleek-headed  men  and  such  as  sleep  o*  nights: 
Yond'  Cassius  has  a  lean  and  hungry  look; 
He  thinks  too  much:  such  men  are  dangerous. 

However  we  may  disapprove  of  the 
methods  of  the  conspirators,  if  it  were  true 
that  Rome  was  threatened  with  a  military 
despotism,  they  were  right  in  opposing  it. 
And  Caesar  was  soundly  correct  in  fearing 
144 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

most  of  all  the  lean  and  hungry  Cassius, 
who  was  " never  at  heart's  ease."  He  was 
habitually  in  want.  He  was  the  restless 
leader  of  his  party,  desiring  ever  something 
better  for  Rome;  desiring  something  better 
for  himself  than  to  be  an  underling  with  a 
military  dictator  striding  over  him.  This 
restlessness  made  him  dangerous  to  Caesar, 
and  would  have  made  him  useful  to  his 
brother  men  had  his  efforts  been  wisely 
directed  to  the  betterment  of  the  state. 

The  one  hopeful  thing  about  the  many 
religious  side-shows  and  the  wide  crop  of 
mushroom  growths  of  curious  belief  that 
infest  all  our  cities,  is  that  they  indicate 
appetite.  Here  and  there  are  little  camps 
of  people,  most  of  them  split  off  from  the 
churches,  holding  and  teaching  views,  some 
sound  and  wholesome,  some  merely  odd 
and  queer,  and  some  openly  in  conflict  with 
the  words  of  our  Lord !  But  these  offshoots 
have  sprung  up  because  people  were  in  want. 
Some  one  was  hungry  and  insisted  on  the 
spreading  of  another  table.  There  is  a 


Two  Parables 

widespread  feeling  to-day  that  the  indwell- 
ing spirit  of  God  ought  to  have  and  can 
have  a  powerful  influence  on  the  health  of 
the  body.  There  is  a  growing  conviction 
that  a  clear  mind  and  a  firm  Christian  faith 
have  a  distinctly  therapeutic  value;  that  "a, 
sound  heart  is  the  life  of  the  flesh."  There 
is  a  feeling  that  many  professing  Christians 
do  not  enter  into  their  full  heritage  as  to 
spiritual  experience  and  power.  Men  are 
claiming  that  there  is  open  and  possible  to 
us  something  such  as  Jesus  indicated  when 
He  spoke  of  "life  more  abundantly."  And 
to  the  end  that  these  claims  and  this  expec- 
tancy may  be  met,  there  is  a  real  demand 
that  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  and  the 
general  presentation  of  religion  shall  be  less 
mechanical  and  more  vital. 

All  this  growing  appetite  is  hopeful.  It 
is  unfortunate  that  earnest  and  aspiring 
Christians  sometimes  split  off  and  leave  the 
organic  Christianity  of  the  community  to 
become  identified  with  irregular  bands  that 

mix   queer   and  unscriptural    notions  with 
146 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

some  most  helpful  teachings.  A  steadfast 
adherence  to  the  church  of  our  Lord,  and 
a  deeper  study  cf  the  Gospel  there  believed 
and  there  preachea,  would,  I  am  confident, 
give  to  all  these  hungry,  restless,  separated 
lives  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  in  their 
own  Father's  house.  But  the  presence  of 
this  unrest  and  want  in  the  community 
must  be  faced  by  the  churches;  its  presence 
is  prophetic  of  good ;  it  ought  to  be  wel- 
comed and  be  led  to  find  its  satisfaction 
in  the  richer  unfolding  of  the  truth  held 
already  by  the  great  Communion  of  Saints. 
It  is  always  a  hopeful  sign  when  any 
church  begins  to  feel  the  stirrings  of  keener 
and  stronger  appetite.  The  only  safety 
lies  in  its  being  perpetually  in  a  state  of 
want.  You  have  seen,  perchance,  a  church 
like  this.  The  people  had  built  for  them- 
selves a  good  house  of  worship,  and  paid  for 
it.  The  pews  were  all  let,  and  comfortably 
filled,  each  clear  Sunday  morning,  with 
well-bred  and  agreeable  people.  The  min- 
ister behaved  well,  was  congenial  socially, 


Two  Parables 

preached  in  an  interesting  way — and  not 
too  long  at  a  time.  There  was  a  handsome 
legacy  left  by  a  departed  wealthy  member, 
so  that  the  demands  upon  the  generosity  of 
the  living  were  not  severe.  The  seats,  and, 
indeed,  all  the  appointments  of  the  church- 
life,  were  well  cushioned,  and  now  the 
members  sat  back  and  fanned  themselves 
during  " service"  with  great  complacency! 

And  you  know,  without  being  told,  how 
utterly  and  almost  hopelessly  dead  and 
buried  such  a  church  is.  The  fine  structure 
they  have  built  to  house  their  self-satis- 
faction, is  a  stately  monument  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  real  life  that  departed,  when  they 
ceased  to  be  "in  want."  A  true  church  is 
unceasingly  hungry.  It  is  looking  out  for 
larger  usefulness ;  it  is  eager  and  restless  for 
deeper  spiritual  life  and  experience;  it  is 
athirst  to  satisfy  itself  by  greater  benevo- 
lence; it  yearns  to  extend  its  usefulness 
to  more  lives,  and  to  make  deeper  its  im- 
press for  good,  and  to  baptize  the  com- 
munity more  thoroughly  with  the  sacred 
148 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

blessedness  with  which    it   has  been   bap- 
tized. 

One  great  object  in  preaching  the  Gospel 
is  to  open  new  mouths  in  men;  to  make 
them  hungry  for  things  which  heretofore 
were  not  objects  of  desire.  Human  nature 
is  more  than  a  stomach  to  be  filled  or  a 
back  to  be  clothed.  It  is  more  than  a 
nature  to  be  amused  or  a  mind  to  be 
stocked  with  news.  It  is  all  this,  indeed, 
and  these  mouths  should  have  their  meat 
in  due  season.  But  in  a  complete  account 
of  human  nature,  we  are  not  to  forget  that 
the  central  fact,  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  human  life  is  the  soul,  the  moral 
and  spiritual  nature.  There  is  in  man  an 
ability  to  worship  and  pray  and  live  to  the 
full  a  religious  life.  If  the  mouths  that 
demand  such  food  have  become  closed,  or 
if  the  appetite  for  it  has  fallen  away,  the 
case  demands  spiritual  tonic  and  stimulus. 
The  Gospel  is  to  quicken  and  make  the 
man  restless  and  wistful,  until  he  finds  what 
will  feed  the  deep,  eternal  part  of  him. 
149 


Two  Parables 

Lowell  used  to  say  that  the  business  of 
education  in  its  larger  sense  is  to  distribute, 
and  to  breed  an  appetite  for,  the  real  bread 
of  life.  The  object  of  all  the  agencies  in  the 
community  that  make  for  civilization,  that 
help  to  humanize  men,  is  not  only  to  put  in 
the  way  of  the  hungry,  seeking  souls  what 
they  need,  but  also  to  awaken  that  desire 
in  those  who  are  going  on  without  it.  The 
college  settlement  moves  down  into  the 
lower  part  of  the  city  to  teach  the  people 
new  wants.  It  is  not  enough  to  send  down 
tracts  on  cleanliness,  industry,  sobriety, 
politeness,  and  intelligence.  The  settle- 
ment must  go  down  and  plant  a  home  there, 
that  all  these  good  words  may  come  in  the 
flesh  and  may  dwell  among  the  people, 
teaching  them,  by  striking  contrast,  how 
much  a  clean  house  is  to  be  preferred  to  a 
dirty  one;  how  much  better  intelligence, 
sobriety,  and  politeness  are  than  the  oppo- 
sites.  The  settlement  shows,  as  nothing 
else  could,  how  desirable  are  books  and 
magazines,  wholesome  games  and  helpful 
150 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

talk,  good  manners  and  good  morals.  It 
teaches  the  people  to  be  hungry  for  these 
things  by  setting  them  all  out  in  tempting 
array.  When  human  desire  is  thus  awak- 
ened, and  is  directed  toward  the  right 
objects,  it  is  well-nigh  omnipotent,  for  it 
has  God  with  it.  If  the  nature  and  purpose 
of  the  universe  be  with  our  awakened  aspi- 
rations, what  can  successfully  stand  against 
them?  If  it  is  the  will  of  God  in  whom  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  that 
every  normal  mouth  should  have  its  meat 
in  due  season,  shall  not  our  total  nature, 
when  it  feels  and  presents  its  wants,  be  fed 
from  the  fullness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in 
all! 

The  same  thing  is  true  in  matters  of  gov- 
ernment. As  we  set  before  men  higher 
ideals  of  national  and  municipal  life,  some 
taken  from  history,  some  from  contempo- 
rary examples,  some  as  reasonable  concep- 
tions of  what  is  desirable,  we  awaken  a 
hunger  for  a  more  honest,  intelligent,  eco- 
nomical, and  effective  administration  of 


Two  Parables 

affairs.  It  is  encouraging  that  so  many 
writers  and  speakers  on  municipal  reform, 
as  well  as  many  quiet  citizens  who  give  no 
public  utterance  to  their  feeling,  are  already 
in  want.  We  have  passed  quite  through 
the  "hallelujah  period"  of  our  national  life, 
when  it  was  almost  unpatriotic  to  suggest 
that  anything  American  could  be  improved. 
We  begin  to  realize  that  a  government  of 
the  people,  and  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,  will  not  take  care  of  itself  any 
better  than  any  other  government.  We 
are  older,  soberer,  and  wiser  men,  and  many 
of  the  questions  of  administration  are  being 
taken  up  with  a  seriousness  and  determina- 
tion that  augurs  well  for  the  future.  Men 
have  begun  to  be  in  want  of  a  better  Amer- 
ica, of  better  municipal  government,  and 
that  want  will  continue  to  make  itself  heard 
until  it  is  fed  with  what  it  demands. 

The  tremendous  influence  of  a  Christian 

civilization   in   awakening  wants  is  seen  in 

the  widespread  and  resolute  agitation  along 

industrial  lines.    The  workingmen  are  some- 

152 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

times  told  they  ought  to  be  content;  they 
have  more  comforts  and  more  luxuries 
twice  over  than  workingmen  had  two  hun- 
dred years  ago.  There  is  no  question 
about  that.  But  the  modern  workingman 
wants  more.  His  house  must  have  more 
in  it.  He  must  read  a  daily  paper.  He 
and  his  family  must  have  more  of  the  things 
that  make  life  livable,  or  he  will  be  heard 
from.  And  the  man  is  right.  Christian 
civilization  has  come  that  he  and  that  all 
men  might  have  life,  and  might  have  it  more 
abundantly.  It  is  significant  that  this  agi- 
tation is  quite  confined  to  Christian  coun- 
tries. India,  China,  Siam  have  no  " labor 
movements"  such  as  we  find  in  Christian 
Europe  and  America.  And  in  Protestant 
countries,  England,  Germany,  and  the 
United  States,  where  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
are  in  the  hands  of  the  common  people,  the 
pressure  for  social  betterment  is  stronger 
than  in  Mexico,  or  Spain,  or  Italy.  The 
men  who  company  with  Jesus  and  learn 
of  Him,  inevitably  begin  to  be  in  want 


Two  Parables 

and   to   insist    that    their   needs   shall    be 
met. 

Beware  of  those  prosperous  times  when 
all  needs  seem  to  be  fully  satisfied !  Success 
is  often  more  perilous  than  failure.  Keep 
the  aspirations  for  something  more,  some- 
thing higher,  better,  completer,  ever  awake. 
If  the  dullness  and  ease  of  satiety  begin  to 
creep  upon  you,  pray  to  God  that  you  may 
again  feel  the  keen  whip  of  unsatisfied 
desire.  I  hold  before  you  this  morning  in 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  privilege 
of  Christian  life  and  service,  something  that 
ought  to  be  an  object  of  desire  to  every  one 
here.  "Your  Father  knoweth  what  things 
ye  have  need  of,"  and  He  has  indicated 
your  needs  in  the  provision  He  has  made. 
You  have  need  of  His  grace;  you  have 
need  of  a  Savior;  you  have  need  of  the 
constant  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  You 
need  all  the  help  He  offers  for  well-rounded 
and  effective  Christian  living.  May  God 
abundantly  feed  all  those  whose  hearts  are 
already  open,  hungry  and  receptive!  May 
154 


The  Hopefulness  of  a  Sense  of  Need 

God  help  those  who  have  not  already  found 
their  way  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  to  know 
their  lack,  and  to  feel  an  increasing  unrest 
until  they  take  the  bread  of  God  that 
cometh  down  from  heaven  to  give  complete 
life  unto  the  world ! 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

"And  no  man  gave  unto  him." 

It  sounds  almost  heartless.  The  young 
man  had  wasted  his  substance  until  he  had 
spent  all.  He  began  to  be  in  want.  He 
finally  hired  out  to  feed  swine,  but  the  job 
was  so  poor,  he  would  fain  have  filled  him- 
self with  the  husks  that  the  swine  ate.  And 
still,  great  as  was  his  need,  "no  man  gave 
unto  him."  The  very  next  verse,  however, 
tells  us  that  at  this  point  he  came  to  him- 
self, and  remembered  that  in  his  father's 
house  there  was  bread  enough  and  to 
spare.  He  instantly  resolved  to  arise,  leave 
the  far  country,  the  swine,  and  the  wicked 
life,  and  go  to  his  father  and  begin  to  live 
once  more  as  a  son.  The  fact  that  men 
withheld  their  gifts  while  he  was  living 
wrong,  is  stated  and  is  significant.  If  a 
156 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

company  of  kind-hearted  and  good-looking 
women  had  gone  out  to  the  prodigal  every 
day  and  left  him  a  basket  of  delicacies  to 
make  his  life  there  with  the  swine  a  little 
more  comfortable,  he  might  have  been 
there  yet.  God  intends  that  the  way  of  the 
transgressor  should  be  hard,  and  if  you  in- 
sist on  making  it  soft,  you  encourage  the 
transgressor  to  keep  right  on  in  it.  The 
prodigal  had  no  right  to  be  living  in  a  far 
country,  feeding  swine  and  hungry  enough 
to  eat  husks.  It  was  possible  for  him  to 
be  living  as  the  son  of  his  father,  with 
bread  enough  and  to  spare.  It  served  to 
remind  him  of  all  this,  and  to  aid  him  in 
coming  to  himself,  when  "no  man  gave 
unto  him." 

Paul  tells  us  not  to  be  partakers  of  other 
men's  sins.  He  indicates  that  we  may  be- 
come accomplices  and  parties  to  the  wicked 
transaction  by  assisting  men  to  be  comfort- 
able in  their  wrongdoing.  If  kind  people 
will  feed,  and  clothe,  and  pet  some  fellow 
who  is  living  as  the  swine  live,  he  will  be  a 


Two  Parables 

hundred-fold  more  ready  to  hold  to  that 
course  than  as  though  men  withdrew  their 
aid.  Our  course  of  action  must  be  dictated 
by  love,  even  toward  the  unthankful  and 
the  unjust.  It  must  also  be  dictated  by 
intelligence.  What  is  meant  for  kindness 
must  be,  upon  final  analysis,  really  kind. 
There  are  times  when  the  best  shoulder  to 
turn  to  a  man  is  the  cold  shoulder.  There 
are  times  when  a  man's  greatest  want  is 
to  go  on  being  in  want,  and  to  find  that  no 
man  will  give  unto  him  while  he  lives  a 
bad  life.  It  will  render  him  an  inestimable 
service  in  convincing  him  that  he  is  on  the 
wrong  track.  It  will  be  your  most  forcible 
argument  to  persuade  him  to  arise  and  be 
himself,  and  start  for  his  Father's  house. 

"  We,  ignorant  of  ourselves, 
Beg  often  our  own  harms  which  the  wise  powers 
Deny  us  for  our  good:  so  find  we  profit 
By  losing  of  our  prayers." 

I  may  seem  to  you  to  be  preaching  hard- 
heartedness.  Some  people  fancy  that  if  we 
love  men,  it  means  we  are  to  exhibit  the 

same  soft,    weak,    indulgent    spirit  toward 

158 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

them,  whether  they  do  right  or  do  wrong. 
We  ought  to  learn  a  lesson  from  the  quality 
and  method  of  God's  love  toward  us.  God 
is  love,  infinite,  absolute,  unquenchable 
love.  Yet  with  His  own  kind  hands  He  has 
built  the  way  of  the  transgressor  so  that  it 
is  hard  and  so  that  it  will  grow  ever  harder. 
A  man  [in  the  museum  of  a  medical  school 
was  looking  at  some  specimens  that  showed 
the  fearful  results  of  certain  physical  sins. 
He  turned  to  the  physician  and  said,  "  Al- 
mighty God  writes  a  very  plain  hand." 
Almighty  God  certainly  does.  '*  Behold, 
therefore,  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of 
God!"  The  harsh  and  terrible  conse- 
quences that  He  visits  upon  broken  law 
furnish  the  strong  hint  He  gives  men  that 
they  are  going  wrong.  "He  is  kind  unto 
the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil;"  and  His 
refusal  to  make  them,  or  even  permit  them 
to  be  comfortable  in  their  iniquity,  shows 
that  His  love  is  intelligently  kind.  "Be  ye 
therefore  merciful  as  your  Father  also  is 
merciful. ' ' 


Two  Parables 

There  is  a  certain  social  ostracism  which 
it  is  not  only  allowable  but  imperative  for  us 
to  visit  upon  bold  and  contented  wicked- 
ness. There  are  men  "in  society"  who 
ought  to  be  in  jail.  There  are  men  whose 
smiling  prosperity  is  the  result  of  gambling. 
If  good  society  tolerates  and  trains  with 
them,  when  will  they  be  taught  to  know 
the  difference  between  the  men  who  enter 
into  the  association  of  respectable  people 
by  the  door,  and  the  thieves  and  robbers 
who  climb  up  some  other  way?  Jesus 
would  teach  us  to  have  the  utmost  charity 
for  penitent  wrongdoers,  and  when  much 
is  forgiven,  there  will  be  much  answering 
love.  But  those  brazen,  self-satisfied,  im- 
pudent sinners,  who  show  their  sleek  and 
ugly  heads  in  what  is  called  good  society, 
will  have  to  learn  their  lesson  as  the 
prodigal  learned  his.  If  no  man  nor  woman 
deigns  to  give  them  place  or  standing 
among  decent  people  until  there  is  a  sober 
and  persistent  effort  to  make  the  life  suffi- 
cientlv  decent  to  have  its  portion  there, 
160 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

the  blessed  Gospel  will  be  effectively 
preached.  Society  has  seen  to  it  thor- 
oughly that  fallen  women  shall  find  that  the 
way  of  such  transgression  is  piteously  hard. 
But  in  all  such  wicked  transactions  there 
are  the  supplementary  fallen  men,  who 
need  the  same  " vigor  and  rigor"  in  the 
message  conveyed  to  them.  A  man  with 
a  dirty  heart  looks  worse  in  society  than  a 
man  with  dirty  hands  or  a  dirty  shirt,  and 
he  will  do  a  thousand-fold  more  harm.  If 
we  insist  so  peremptorily  that  the  outside 
of  the  cup  and  platter  shall  be  clean,  we 
should  also  demand  a  reputable  degree  of 
honesty  and  purity  within. 

I  am  sent  into  this  pulpit  to  preach  that 
we  should  love  God  and  love  men.  But 
our  love  to  men  must  be  a  love  that  really 
loves  them.  When  the  prodigal  was  there 
with  the  swine,  hungry  and  empty,  the 
man  who  might  have  rushed  out  to  him  and 
fed  him  and  left  him  with  the  assurance 
that  a  loaf  would  be  forthcoming  every 
day,  would  not  have  loved  him  as  much  as 
161 


Two  Parables 

the  man  who  refused  to  give  him  a  crust 
until  he  should  get  up  and  out  and  begin 
to  make  his  life  right.  A  wise  refusal  may 
be  ten  times  more  loving  than  a  soft  con- 
sent. Our  good  sense  and  our  experience 
must  choose  the  line  of  treatment  that  in 
the  long  run  will  prove  loving.  The  surgeon 
who  fearlessly  cuts  away  a  dangerous 
cancer  even  though  his  patient  writhes,  is 
more  loving  than  the  one  who  lets  it  grow 
and  kill  the  man.  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
with  all  thy  strength;  and  thou  shall  love 
thy  fellowman  in  the  same  four-fold  way. 

The  principle  suggested  in  the  text  is  of 
special  value  in  our  charity  work.  There 
is  a  soft-heartedness  that  deals  out  pro- 
visions at  the  back  door,  and  hands  over 
money  to  the  able-bodied  beggar  who  stops 
you  on  the  street,  which  does  more  harm 
than  good.  This  human  nature  of  ours  is 
prone  to  be  lazy,  and  some  of  it  is  very  lazy. 
When  an  easy-going  man  finds  that  it  is 
162 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

easier  to  beg  than  to  work,  it  is  a  fatal  dis- 
covery, and  his  choice  is  soon  made.  What 
he  needs  is  not  alms,  but  to  make  several 
more  trips  to  the  ant  and  to  give  additional 
consideration  to  her  ways,  in  that  without 
the  spur  of  guide,  overseer,  or  ruler,  she 
diligently  provides  her  meat  in  the  sum- 
mer, and  gathers  her  food  in  the  harvest. 
' '  Blessed  is  the  man  who  considers  the  poor' ' 
as  well  as  gives  them  alms.  Blessed  is  the 
man  who  reaches  into  his  intelligence  and 
into  the  combined  wisdom  and  experience 
of  charity  workers,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
reaches  into  his  pocket. 

In  the  city  of  Boston,  a  few  years  ago,  a 
royal-hearted  young  man,  an  earnest  Chris- 
tian worker  in  one  of  our  churches  there, 
felt  that  he  could  do  something  for  the  un- 
employed. He  rented  a  large  basement, 
fitted  it  up  with  cots,  with  a  reading-room, 
and  a  place  for  Gospel  meetings.  It  would 
hold  one  hundred  and  fifty  men.  He  went 
to  the  hotels  and  got  their  broken  bread 
for  little  or  nothing;  he  got  their  coffee- 
163 


Two  Parables 

grounds ;  he  bought  beans  at  a  low  price ; 
and  he  found  he  could  give  a  man  all  the 
bread  he  could  eat,  a  half  pint  of  beans,  a 
cup  of  coffee,  and  a  night's  lodging,  all  for 
ten  cents.  It  seemed  very  philanthropic. 
A  Gospel  meeting  was  held  each  evening, 
and  the  superintendent  of  this  mission, 
whose  theology  would  have  made  Jonathan 
Edwards  seem  a  trifle  liberal  in  comparison, 
preached  them  a  red-hot  sermon.  The 
tramps  all  over  eastern  Massachusetts,  and 
some  in  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
heard  of  it  and  came  down  to  put  up  with 
our  friend  for  the  winter.  They  found  that 
by  a  little  persistent  effort  they  could  beg 
ten  cents  on  the  Common  in  an  hour  or  so, 
and  then  go  down  to  the  mission,  pay  for 
their  keep,  and  spend  the  remainder  of  the 
twenty-four  hours  as  gentlemen  of  leisure. 
The  reading-room  and  the  checker-boards 
helped  them  to  pass  the  time.  The  even- 
ing sermon  was  an  inexorable  condition  and 
was  exceedingly  robust,  but  they  did  not 
mind.  They  felt  that  every  situation  in 
164 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

life  has  its  outs.  The  city  of  Boston  was 
calling  for  more  men  to  shovel  snow  on  the 
streets  at  the  very  time  the  brethren  of  the 
easy  chair  were  dozing  in  this  mission.  It 
was  all  well  meant,  but  in  most  of  the  cases 
it  was  mistaken  kindness.  The  tenderest 
thing  that  could  have  been  done  for  any 
able-bodied  man  would  have  been  for  no 
man  to  give  unto  him,  and  to  thus  compel 
him  to  a  self-respecting  life  of  honest  work. 
It  was  Herbert  Spencer  who  said,  "To 
save  men  from  the  consequences  of  their 
folly  is  to  fill  the  world  with  fools."  The 
same  is  true  where  there  is  a  lack  of  thrift 
or  sobriety.  Make  any  sort  of  wrong  living 
easy  and  comfortable,  and  you  send  out  a 
bid  for  men  to  enter  in  and  enjoy  the 
results  of  their  folly.  If  you  coddle  and 
pet  the  transgressor  instead  of  leaving  him 
where  the  Bible  leaves  him,  you  put  a 
premium  on  transgression.  "The  tender 
mercies  of  the  wicked  are  cruel,"  and  so  is 
the  ill-directed  kindness  of  some  of  the 
righteous.  When  we  are  dealing  with  men 
165 


Two  Parables 

who  are  wantonly  breaking  the  law  of  pros- 
perity or  the  moral  law,  we  shall  do  well  to 
remember  that  "the  injuries  that  they 
themselves  procure  must  be  their  school- 
masters." For  us  in  our  mistaken  mercy 
to  relieve  them  from  the  results  of  their 
own  sin,  is  turning  them  out  of  the  very 
school  whose  lessons  they  sorely  need. 

All  this  is  said  with  a  full  understanding 
of  the  fact  that  misfortunes  come  which 
men  cannot  avert ;  that  it  is  oftentimes  diffi- 
cult for  the  incompetent  to  find  work,  and 
that  in  every  community  there  are  the  "de- 
serving poor."  But  the  worst  enemies  the 
deserving  poor  have  are  the  lazy  impostors, 
who  break  down  the  confidence  of  benevo- 
lent people ;  these  men  who  only  lack  ten 
cents  to  make  up  the  fare  to  Stockton 
or  Fresno;  these  unfortunates  who  have 
just  had  their  pockets  picked  and  want  to 
borrow  a  few  dollars  to  get  back  to  their 
families  at  Sacramento,  when  they  will  in- 
stantly mail  the  money  back  to  you.  There 

may  be  exceptions,  but  most  of  them  are 
166 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

liars  and  thieves.  All  city  pastors  are  vis- 
ited by  such  men  who  frequently  claim  to 
be  Christian  Endeavorers,  and  deacons,  and 
some  of  them  brother  ministers ;  and  who 
want  to  negotiate  a  small  loan  on  the 
strength  of  these  spiritual  bonds.  Some- 
times they  abuse  us  roundly  for  our  hard- 
hearted incredulity  when  we  refuse  them! 
The  whole  tribe  of  them  is  bringing  re- 
proach upon  those  who  are  worthy  of  our 
aid.  Faithful  are  the  wounds  which  their 
real  friends  inflict  upon  them  by  wise  re- 
fusals, but  the  financial  kisses  of  their  ene- 
mies are  deceitful.  The  only  proper  answer 
is  that  suggested  in  the  text — "Let  no  man 
give  unto  them." 

In  every  community  there  are  the  aged, 
the  sick,  and  the  helpless  whom  we  ought 
to  help.  Christ,  by  His  example  and  by 
His  words,  laid  this  duty  upon  us.  But 
careful  statistics  have  shown  us  that  out  of 
every  ten  persons  applying  for  help,  in  six 
cases  the  want  is  due  to  intemperance ;  in 
three,  it  is  on  account  of  helpless  old  age, 
167 


Two  Parables 

or  broken  down  condition,  following  upon 
a  wasteful  or  reckless  life ;  and  there  is  left 
one  case  of  actual,  deserving  necessity. 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  one  of  the  most 
experienced  men  in  charity  work,  was 
accustomed  to  say  that  if  the  other  churches 
in  Boston  would  take  care  of  the  poverty 
caused  by  drink,  he  and  his  church  would 
care  for  all  the  rest.  If  a  man  is  led  to  feel 
confident  that  he  can  spend  half  his  wages 
or  all  of  them  on  rum,  and  that  the  com- 
munity will  then  step  in  and  support  his 
wife  and  children,  it  is  not  a  good  temper- 
ance lesson  for  him.  But  the  cry  is,  "The 
poor  woman  ought  not  to  suffer."  The 
poor  woman  is  responsible  for  being  his 
wife.  The  man  and  the  woman  are  respon- 
sible for  the  presence  of  the  children.  The 
lifting  off  from  people's  shoulders  of  the 
consequences  of  their  own  acts  will  not 
tend  to  make  them  wiser  and  better.  I 
hope  the  poor  women  will  go  on  suffering 
from  drunken  husbands  until  they  learn 

while  they  are  girls  not  to  marry  habitual 
168 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

drinkers.  With  so  many  lines  of  employ- 
ment open,  no  girl  needs  to  marry  for  sup- 
port. Marriage  is  not  a  necessity.  It  is 
the  happiest  way  to  live,  but  only  when  it 
is  marriage  of  the  right  sort.  When  we  are 
compelled  to  face  and  to  bear  the  natural 
consequences  of  our  own  choices,  we  receive 
moral  education  of  the  most  effective  kind. 
Out  in  the  natural  world  there  goes  on  a 
stern  weeding  out  of  forms  of  life  that  will 
not  conform  to  certain  laws.  The  survi- 
val of  those  who  are  fit  to  survive  results 
from  the  struggle  for  existence  laid  upon 
plants,  upon  animals,  and  upon  men.  Laid 
on  by  whose  hand?  The  natural  world 
was  not  created  by  the  devil.  God  the 
Father  Almighty  is  Maker  of  heaven  and  of 
earth.  The  stern  struggle  for  existence 
was  imposed  by  the  God  of  all  grace.  To 
step  in  and  remove  it  by  making  it  easy  for 
the  drunken,  and  the  lazy,  and  the  shiftless 
forms  of  life  to  survive,  is  a  chanty  against 
nature.  When  certain  individuals  take  up 
with  a  form  of  life  that  is  described  by  say- 
169 


Two  Parables 

ing  it  is  in  a  far  country,  it  is  down  with 
the  swine,  and  it  wastes  its  substance  with 
harlots,  the  only  right  course  is  for  no  man 
to  give  unto  it.  Let  it  begin  to  be  in  want 
and  remain  in  want  until  it  comes  to  itself 
and  leaves  that  pigsty  mode  of  life !  Starve 
it  until  from  dire  necessity  it  arises  and 
starts  for  the  place  where  there  is  bread 
enough,  a  Father's  house  and  a  Father's 
love,  and  all  the  other  rewards  of  righteous- 
ness! 

Applying  the  text  in  a  different  direction, 
no  man  should  give  anything  to  sustain  an 
institution  which  has  no  rightful  place  in 
a  Christian  civilization.  The  workingman 
who  gets  twelve  dollars  a  week,  on  Satur- 
day night,  as  Dr.  Gladden  has  well  said, 
"has  power  over  all  men  to  the  extent  of 
twelve  dollars."  He  can  choose  where  his 
power  will  be  exercised.  Wherever  he 
spends  his  money,  he  sets  men  at  work 
producing  the  thing  he  buys.  If  he  spends 
it  for  flour,  meat,  fruit,  furniture,  or 
books,  he  stimulates  the  production  of 
170 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

these  good  things.  If  he  spends  it,  or  any 
part  of  it,  for  whisky  and  beer,  he  starts 
more  men  in  the  rum  business.  A  man 
who  gambles  or  sinks  himself  in  lower 
indulgences,  increases  the  demand  for 
gamblers  and  outcasts.  If  he  buys  a  bad 
book  or  a  bad  picture,  or  indulges  in  low, 
cheap  forms  of  amusement,  he  increases 
the  demand  for  that  sort  of  thing,  and 
makes  it  a  more  profitable  line  of  business. 
As  the  dollar  leaves  your  hand,  in  any 
direction,  it  sets  men  to  work  furnishing 
the  thing  you  buy.  You  become  partaker 
of  other  men's  sins  when  you  share  in 
maintaining  what  has  no  rightful  place  in  a 
Christian  civilization. 

The  notorious  prize  fight  at  Carson  City 
last  March,  including  the  purses,  admis- 
sions, traveling  expenses,  and  the  liquor 
consumed  in  making  the  fight  go  off  well, 
is  said  to  have  cost  something  over  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars.  Enough  to  have 
erected  a  public  library  in  some  city,  a 
thing  of  blessing  and  benefit  for  generations 
171 


Two  Parables 

to  come !  Enough  to  have  built  a  working- 
men's  club,  with  bathrooms,  reading  rooms, 
recreation  rooms,  meeting  rooms,  all  com- 
plete !  All  spent  for  the  sake  of  seeing,  in 
a  few  minutes,  which  of  two  men  could 
most  successfully  bruise  and  disfigure  the 
face  of  his  fellowman.  Where  did  they 
get  so  much  money?  From  the  great 
number  of  men  who  paid  the  admissions 
and  spent  their  means.  Prize-fighters  fur- 
nish fights  because  there  is  a  demand  for 
them.  Newspapers  devote  the  first  and 
best  pages  next  morning  to  the  disgraceful 
occurrence  because  people  want  to  read  the 
details  of  every  round.  The  people  who 
demand  it  and  patronize  it  are  responsible. 
The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  such  things  is 
for  no  man  to  give  unto  them. 

The  majority  of  our  city  newspapers  at 
this  time  are  sensational,  unclean,  and  unre- 
liable. But  they  furnish  what  people  buy. 
If  the  people  would  not  buy  a  paper  with 
startling  headlines  and  abominable  pictures, 
and  pages  of  low  talk  concerning  some 
172 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

scandal,  the  paper  would  no  more  print  it 
than  they  would  print  a  chapter  from 
Rollin's  Ancient  History.  The  only  way 
to  stamp  out  a  bad  paper  is  for  no  de- 
cent man  to  support  it  by  subscription  or 
advertisement.  If  the  decent  people  insist 
on  taking,  and  reading,  and  advertising  in 
the  best  paper,  the  best  paper  will  flourish 
and  grow  still  better.  The  decent  people 
in  this  community,  or  in  any  large  com- 
munity, outnumber  the  indecent  people  ten 
to  one.  They  could  have  their  way  and 
could  have  it  all  the  time,  if  they  would 
simply  act  together. 

The  responsibility  in  spending  our  money 
is  thus  as  great  and  as  sacred  as  our  re- 
sponsibility in  earning  it.  Both  must  be 
done  in  a  way  that  tends  to  build  a  Christian 
civilization.  The  sweating  system  results 
from  the  greed  of  manufacturers,  and  also 
from  the  popular  demand  for  cheap  clothing. 
Men  will  only  make  what  people  are  ready 
and  eager  to  buy.  We  all  know  that  about 
a  certain  amount  is  a  fair  price  for  a  suit  of 


Two  Parables 

clothes  or  for  a  shirt.  When  we  refuse  to 
pay  that  fair  price  and  begin  to  run  after 
unreasonable  bargains,  and  to  buy  at  prices 
that  mean  starvation  wages  for  the  women 
and  girls  who  do  the  work,  we  are  accom- 
plices in  the  whole  wretched  business  of 
sweating.  To  turn  away  from  the  bargain 
counters  and  from  certain  stores  may  mean 
a  stricter  economy  for  us;  it  may  mean 
that  we  shall  need  to  follow  the  fashions 
afar  off,  but  we  shall  not  be  implicated  in 
building  up  an  industry  that  is  ruinous  to 
the  poor,  tired  hands  and  brains  engaged 
in  it. 

The  question  of  popular  amusements 
often  agitates  the  church  people.  No  doubt 
there  could  be  in  every  city  decent  and 
wholesome  theaters;  so  wholesome  that  a 
minister  could  go  with  no  more  discredit  to 
his  calling  than  there  is  in  his  going  to  a 
symphony  concert,  or  in  taking  dinner  with 
one  of  his  deacons.  It  could  be  as  profit- 
able for  me  to  go  and  see  Shakespeare's 
plays  on  the  stage  as  to  sit  in  my  study 
174 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

and  read  them — more  profitable,  for  they 
were  written  to  be  acted  more  than  to  be 
read.  But  that  day  has  not  yet  come. 
The  modern  theaters  too  commonly  offer 
performances  where  women  and  girls  ap- 
pear in  costumes  that  cannot  but  be  de- 
structive to  the  modesty  and  finer  feelings 
of  those  participating.  The  delicacy  and 
modesty  of  the  woman  on  one  side  the 
footlights  is  as  much  worth  preserving  as 
that  of  the  woman  on  the  other.  That  the 
tendency  of  the  stage,  as  at  present  con- 
ducted, is  deleterious,  is  indicated  by  the 
claim  that  Mrs.  Kendall,  the  English 
actress,  made  a  few  years  ago,  to  the  effect 
that  she  was  the  only  virtuous  woman  on 
the  English  stage.  Her  claim  was  disputed, 
with  reason,  no  doubt ;  and  she  was  severely 
criticised  for  such  an  assertion.  But  the 
very  possibility  of  such  claim  ever  being 
made  with  any  sort  of  ground  to  make  it 
appear  credible,  indicates  the  situation. 
Imagine  a  woman  who  was  a  teacher,  or  a 
dressmaker,  or  engaged  in  domestic  service, 


Two  Parables 

making  such  a  ridiculous  claim  touching 
her  fellow-craftsmen!  But  if  the  stage 
destroys  modesty  and  tends  to  destroy 
virtue,  the  people  who  sustain  it  are  respon- 
sible equally  with  those  who  furnish  the 
performance.  The  way  to  usher  in  the 
better  day  is  not  to  consume  all  our  zeal 
denouncing  the  theater  managers,  who 
simply  furnish  what  people  will  buy.  The 
decent,  modest,  high-minded  people  must 
simply  refuse  to  patronize  any  performance 
that  interferes  with  the  modesty  and  high- 
mindedness  of  those  participating.  If  we 
give  our  support  only  to  forms  of  recreation 
that  are  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report, 
we  shall  help  to  starve  out  those  that  are 
unworthy,  and  to  introduce  those  that  can 
rightfully  claim  a  place  in  Christian  society. 
The  modern  schools  of  physical  well-be- 
ing teach  us  to  maintain  health  less  by  the 
use  of  violent  drugs  than  by  correct  diet 
and  wholesome  exercise.  If  there  is  too 
much  of  something  in  the  body,  we  do  not 
go  on  putting  in  more;  we  starve  the 
176 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

body  as  to  that  and  feed  it  the  other  ele- 
ments. If  the  body  is  sore  with  boils,  we 
cut  off  the  food  of  which  boils  are  made 
and  supply  another  sort.  The  same  com- 
mon-sense treatment  is  good  for  the  social 
and  industrial  body.  Let  no  man  give  a 
farthing  to  a  form  of  life  or  an  institution 
that  has  no  rightful  place  in  the  body  of 
Christian  civilization.  The  responsibility 
for  the  presence  of  the  sores  and  morbid 
growths  must  lie  with  all  who  are  sup- 
porting them.  When  this  rigorous  policy 
of  refusing  the  sinews  of  war  to  all  enemies 
of  our  social  peace  is  strictly  pursued,  there 
will  be  some  hope  that  society  will  come  to 
itself  and  arise  and  enter  upon  a  better 
mode  of  life. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  the  indi- 
vidual life.  There  may  be  an  element  in 
you  that  habitually  goes  into  a  far  country 
and  spends  itself  in  wrong  thinking,  wrong 
desiring,  and  wrong  doing.  If  you  make  it 
comfortable  for  that  prodigal  element,  it 

will  stay.     If  you  sternly  and    stubbornly 
177 


c 


Two  Parables 

starve  it,  inevitably  it  must  come  to  itself 
and  cast  in  its  lot  with  your  better  self,  and 
come  at  last  with  your  total  nature  to  the 
Father.  An  ugly  temper  grows  by  indul- 
gence, or  dies  for  lack  of  sustenance.  Im- 
pure thoughts  and  desires  grow  impudent 
and  masterful  by  being  allowed  their  daily 
ration  of  food;  they  wither  and  die  when 
they  are  denied.  Selfishness  becomes  a 
hateful  usurper,  demanding  the  whole  field 
if  allowed  to  feed  daily  at  the  table  of  our 
allowance;  but  if  compelled  to  become  an 
ascetic,  denying  itself,  taking  up  its  cross 
and  following  Christ  in  active  service,  it 
puts  off  the  old  man  and  puts  on  a  new 
man  of  unselfish  love. 

Christian  Science  scores  a  point  of 
strength  by  insisting  that  people  shall 
starve  the  evil  and  feed  the  good.  It  dis- 
courages you  from  talking  of  your  ailments. 
They  do  not  form  an  interesting  or  profit- 
able topic  for  others.  They  are  not  profit- 
able to  the  man  himself,  though  they 
must  be  interesting,  for  some  people  seem 
178 


The  Wisdom  of  Refusal 

to  " enjoy  poor  health."  Christian  Science 
carries  this  starvation  of  evil  so  far  as  to 
deny  its  very  existence.  There  its  extrava- 
gant philosophy  breaks  down  into  absurdity. 
If  I  cannot  trust  the  integrity  of  my  con- 
sciousness when  it  informs  me  that  I  have 
the  toothache,  how  am  I  to  believe  it  when 
it  tells  me  I  am  in  health,  or  that  I  love 
God?  But  a  stubborn  and  persistent  re- 
fusal to  think  upon  or  talk  about  one's  ills 
will,  indeed,  tend  to  starve  them  out,  and 
will  have  a  real  therapeutic  effect.  To  feed 
the  mind  and  heart  upon  thoughts  of 
health  and  strength,  will  enable  the  healing 
process  of  nature  and  of  scientific  treatment 
to  do  their  best. 

One  fine  point  in  this  parable,  also,  is  the 
way  it  shows  how  the  whole  constitution 
of  things  changes  for  a  man  when  he  is 
changed  himself.  When  the  prodigal  was 
spending  his  all  in  the  far  country,  wasting 
his  substance  with  harlots  and  hungry 
enough  to  fill  himself  with  husks,  "no  man 

gave  unto  him."     When  he  arose,  went  to 
179 


Two  Parables 

his  father  with  a  confession,  and  entered 
upon  a  new  life,  his  father  had  compassion 
and  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him. 
The  servants  brought  out  a  robe,  and  a 
ring,  and  shoes.  They  killed  the  fatted 
calf  and  all  began  to  be  merry.  A  new  man 
finds  a  new  world  ready  to  his  hand.  God 
and  society,  and  the  whole  system  of  things, 
refuse  to  give  their  good  gifts  while  the 
man  lives  wrong.  They  all  unite  in  their 
welcome  and  their  encouraging  help  when 
he  faces  about. 

As  you  give  to  charity,  then,  as  you  spend 
your  money,  as  you  select  your  forms  of 
recreation,  as  you  bestow  time,  thought, 
and  care  on  the  various  parts  of  your  own 
life,  see  that  they  all  go  to  maintain  some- 
thing that  has  a  right  to  be.  By  exercising 
the  wisdom  of  refusal,  starve  out  the 
wicked  and  prodigal  elements  in  society 
and  in  yourself,  and  then  feed  the  mouths 
that  are  normal  and  healthy  with  "that 
meat  which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life, 

which  the  Son  of  Man  shall  give  unto  you." 
180 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

"  When  he  came  to  himself,  he  said,  ....  I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  father." 

That  was  the  natural  thing  for  him  to  do. 
The  normal  place  for  a  Hebrew  boy  was 
in  his  father's  house  and  at  his  father's 
table,  rather  than  away  in  a  pagan  country 
herding  swine  for  a  Gentile.  He  seemed,  as 
he  sat  there,  to  have  awakened  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  strange  and  unnatural  for  him 
not  to  be  with  his  father.  He  saw  how 
irrational  and  absurd  it  was  for  him  to  be 
hungry  enough  to  eat  husks,  when  there 
was  bread  enough  and  to  spare  in  his  own 
father's  house.  And  when  he  thus  came 
to  himself,  he  came  at  once  to  his  father. 

When  a  man  is  under  the  influence  of 
liquor,  we  say,  "He  is  not  himself."  We 
do  not  stop  to  say  or  to  think  who  he  is — 

he  is  not  the  man  we  know.     Some  foreign 
181 


Two  Parables 

element  has  gotten  into  him,  and  for  the 
time  usurps  the  place  of  the  man  who  is 
naturally  resident  there.  If  a  man  loses  his 
temper  and  does  foolish,  cruel  deeds,  we 
say,  "He  is  not  himself/'  If  a  man's  rea- 
son is  dethroned  and  he  becomes  insane, 
we  say,  "He  is  not  himself."  You  see 
how  these  familiar  expressions  all  bear 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  we  believe  that 
a  real  man  is  sober,  kind,  and  reasonable. 
The  fundamental,  unmixed  human  nature 
is  good;  when  it  becomes  anything  else, 
the  man  is  not  himself. 

Sin  is  always  abnormal;  righteousness 
alone  is  normal.  A  sinner  of  a  certain  sort 
in  the  Old  Testament  was  called  "a 
strange  woman."  All  wickedness  is 
strange.  It  is  a  foreign  immigrant  that  has 
never  become  naturalized.  It  never  can 
become  naturalized  in  the  kingdom  of 
humanity,  for  it  cannot  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance.  It  has  none  of  the  possibilities 
of  loyal  citizenship  within  it.  No  matter 
what  form  the  sin  takes,  we  insist  that  it  is 
182 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

an  interloper,  a  squatter  in  the  domain  of 
the  man's  real  nature.  It  does  not  belong 
there;  it  has  no  title  to  its  place.  It  is 
pre-empting  soil  that  was  created  for  holy 
uses.  The  sinning  man  is  a  false  self  pos- 
ing in  the  place  of  the  true  self.  The  real 
man  may  be  temporarily  overpowered  by 
liquor,  by  evil  temper,  by  the  infatuation  . 
of  some  wicked  companion ;  in  every  case 
we  insist  that  he  is  not  himself.  Under- 
neath there  is  another  man,  the  real  man, 
who  is  sober,  kind,  and  pure.  Salvation, 
then,  is  in  reality  self-recovery.  The  res- 
toration and  the  redemption  of  the  man 
consist  in  his  being  brought  thoroughly 
and  eternally  to  himself. 

The  Bible,  from  the  very  first,  bids  us 
cherish  this  truth.  Man  was  created  in  the 
likeness  and  image  of  God.  The  first  sin 
was  the  act  of  introducing  something  into 
man's  life  that  did  not  belong  there.  Hu- 
man nature  is  termed  in  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  a  field,  sown  in  the  first  instance 
with  good  seed  by  the  Son  of  Man.  The 
183 


Two  Parables 

tares  that  subsequently  appeared  were  cor- 
ruptions, introduced,  the  parable  says,  by 
"an  enemy."  You  may  stoop  down  to  the 
beginning  of  human  life,  as  Jesus  did,  and 
hold  it  up,  saying,  "Of  such  is  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven."  The  mature  man  may 
or  may  not  belong  in  that  kingdom.  If  he 
has  introduced  into  his  life  any  sinful  ele- 
ment, then  he  is  no  longer  himself.  And 
when  once  he  has  brought  in  those  sinful 
elements,  which  we  find  to  be  the  universal 
fact,  they  must  be  washed  out  by  repent- 
ance and  faith  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
"Except  ye  turn  and  become  as  little  chil- 
dren, ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven." 

You  can  see  the  whole  spiritual  process 
taking  place  there  in  the  prodigal's  heart. 
He  was  foolish  at  first  in  leaving  his  fath- 
er's house.  He  foolishly  spent  his  time 
and  his  money  in  riotous  living.  He 
wasted  his  substance,  his  health,  his  good 
name  with  harlots.  He  plunged  into  dis- 
sipation until  he  began  to  be  in  want. 
184 


V-'  - 

OF    TTT-. 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

Then  at  last,  there  in  the  quiet  of  the  field, 
where  he  was  herding  swine,  he  began  to 
see  things  as  they  are.  He  saw  how  ugly 
were  the  cruel  and  painted  faces  for  whose 
false  smiles  he  had  been  wasting  his  money 
and  his  life.  He  saw  how  treacherous 
were  the  men  who  had  caroused  with  him 
until  "he  had  spent  all,"  and  then  had  left 
him  to  the  swine.  The  whole  situation 
where  he  had  found  himself  was  strange, 
foreign,  unnatural.  He  thought  of  his  life 
at  his  father's  house;  it  had  been  sweet, 
pure,  simple.  He  gradually  awoke  out  of 
what  seemed  like  an  ugly,  wicked  dream; 
he  came  to  himself  and  quickly  announced 
his  determination,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to 
my  father/' 

A  Christian  man  always  is  one  who  has 
had  his  eyes  opened  and  who  is  trying  to  be 
himself.  He  will  not  be  some  twisted, 
contorted,  unnatural  caricature — he  will  be 
himself.  He  will  be  the  man  God  made 
him  to  be.  When  we  speak  of  a  man  who 
is  notoriously  cruel,  we  call  him  "inhu- 
185 


Two  Parables 

man."  All  sin  is  inhuman.  To  be  human 
is  to  be  Christian ;  it  is  to  do  the  things 
that  a  human  life  was  created  to  do.  The 
best  account  any  man  can  give  as  to  his 
reasons  for  living  a  religious  life  is  to  simply 
say,  "I  am  religious  because  I  am  a  man 
and  do  not  desire  to  be  less  than  human, 
and  because  humanity  in  me  and  in  my 
race  commences  and  completes  itself  in  re- 
ligion and  by  religion."  A  Christian  man 
worships  and  prays;  he  was  intended  to  do 
that.  He  would  be  queer  and  unnatural  if 
he  did  not.  A  boy  who  never  speaks  to 
his  father,  we  call  a  morbid  and  unnatural 
boy.  A  man  who  does  not  speak  to  his 
Heavenly  Father  is  not  himself.  A  Chris- 
tian obeys  the  will  of  God.  He  was  made 
to  do  just  that.  A  disobedient  man  is  a 
planet  out  of  its  orbit,  plunging  wildly 
through  space,  certain  to  bring  and  to  suffer 
disaster.  A  Christian  man,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  keeps  himself  kind,  true,  pure. 
An  unkind,  false,  impure  man  is  always  an 
adulterated  article.  In  a  word,  when  a 
186 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

man  becomes  a  Christian  he  is  not  intro- 
ducing some  foreign  substance  into  his 
nature;  he  is  simply  bringing  out  the 
original  purpose.  Religion  is  not  some- 
thing added  to  life;  it  is  life  itself.  The 
true  nature  of  the  man  when  freed  by  the 
forgiveness  and  grace  of  God  from  the  hin- 
dering and  corrupting  elements  in  it,  is  in 
itself  Christian  character.  So  when  a  man 
arises  and  goes  to  his  Father,  he  is  on  the 
way  to  become  completely  and  eternally 
himself. 

Amiel  says  that  we  are  "candidates  for 
humanity."  We  have  not  all,  as  yet, 
made  our  calling  and  election  to  that  high 
destiny  sure.  Indeed,  the  aim  of  educa- 
tion, of  culture,  and  of  religion  is  to 
humanize  men.  All  right  life  tends  to 
bring  the  human  nature  to  the  point  where 
it  is  entirely  itself.  And  one  of  the  glories 
of  Christianity  is  that  it  has  brought  in  a 
new  conception  of  what  it  is  for  a  man  to 
be  himself.  A  North  American  Indian 
would  give  one  answer  if  you  were  to  ask 
187 


Two  Parables 

him  to  describe  the  natural  life.  The 
negro  slave  at  the  close  of  the  war  would 
have  given  another.  A  white  man  a  thou- 
sand years  ago  would  have  given  still 
another.  A  wicked  man  in  the  slums  at 
this  hour  would  give  you  yet  another,  if 
you  should  ask  him  to  define  his  notion  of 
the  natural  life.  A  Christian  man  goes  for 
his  conception  of  the  natural  life  to  the 
complete  man,  the  representative  man,  the 
Son  of  Man.  For  a  man  to  be  himself  is 
for  him  to  be  like  Jesus  Christ.  Untainted, 
uncorrupted  humanity  appeared  to  us  in 
the  life  of  the  Savior,  and  for  all  time  we 
can  truly  realize  what  it  means  to  be  human. 
To  be  a  man  means  to  "be  like  Him," 
ever  increasing  in  our  power  to  adequately 
"see  Him,"  and  then  to  reproduce  Him, 
"as  He  is." 

The  strangeness  of  the  religious  life  has 
been  mistakenly  emphasized  by  some 
teachers.  They  have  overworked  and  dis- 
torted the  idea  that  we  are  to  be  "a  pecu- 
liar people."  The  revised  version  trans- 
188 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

lates  it  "a  people  for  God's  own  posses- 
sion." The  revision  and  correct  translation 
of  all  texts  and  all  facts  will  make  it  clear 
that  it  is  the  unchristian  life  that  is  odd 
and  strange.  When  that  passage  in  Corin- 
thians is  rightly  translated,  it  is  no  longer  a 
slant  at  human  nature.  We  find  that  it  is 
not  "the  natural  man,"  but  "the  sensu- 
ous" or  "animal  man"  that  "receiveth  not 
the  things  of  the  spirit  of  God."  The 
more  natural  the  life  becomes,  the  more 
Christian  it  will  be.  Jesus  sought  always 
to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  Christian  life 
is  the  inevitable  life  for  one  who  would  be 
a  normal  man.  The  lost  sheep  and  the 
lost  coin  and  the  prodigal  son  are  in 
the  strange  and  unnatural  position.  The 
favorite  method  of  Jesus  throughout  was 
to  show  the  close  affinity  between  human 
nature  acting  healthfully  and  the  nature  of 
God.  When  He  desired  to  illustrate  the 
gracious  answers  that  God  sends  to  our 
prayers,  His  word  was,  "What  man  is  there 
of  you,  whom  if  his  son  ask  bread,  will  he 
189 


Two  Parables 

give  him  a  stone?"  And  the  truth  that 
God  must  inevitably  come  into  the  world 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost  is 
foreshadowed,  Jesus  said,  in  the  familiar 
fact  that  if  a  man  have  a  hundred  sheep 
and  one  be  gone  astray,  he  leaves  the 
ninety  and  nine,  and  goeth  into  the  moun- 
tains and  seeketh  the  one  until  he  find  it. 
He  sought  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to 
men  by  uncovering  and  interpreting  the 
resemblances  between  human  life  at  its  best 
and  the  perfect  life  of  God.  His  method 
of  teaching  deepened  our  sense  of  the  fact 
that  when  human  nature  is  pure  and  normal, 
it  is  indeed  a  finite  image  and  likeness  of 
the  Divine. 

Take  the  conception  of  the  entrance 
upon  a  new  life  put  forth  in  the  text.  How 
wholesome  and  natural  it  all  is!  It  is  the 
act  of  rising  and  of  going  to  one's  Father. 
What  a  helpful  way  of  putting  it!  The 
words  form  a  well  that  is  deep,  and  you 
may  drink  as  you  will  of  their  living  water 
and  never  exhaust  them.  In  our  knowl- 
190 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

edge  of  human  fatherhood,  we  have  some- 
thing to  draw  with.  Any  child  knows  what 
it  means  to  arise  and  go  to  his  father. 
There  on  the  hills  of  Judea,  when  Jesus 
spoke,  and  here  in  Oakland  to-day  you 
find  fathers  toiling  for  their  little  ones. 
Men  are  working  to  give  their  children 
comfortable  homes,  a  good  education — 
better  than  they  themselves  had  —  and 
something  to  start  them  in  the  world.  The 
whole  aim  of  fatherhood  is  to  help  the 
children  to  a  successful  career,  to  a  good 
name,  and  to  a  bright  destiny.  That  is 
fatherhood  as  you  know  it  and  see  it.  Now 
enlarge  your  thought  of  it !  Take  from  it 
all  imperfectness  of  knowledge,  all  lack  of 
power!  Deepen  it,  widen  it  until  it  is  as 
broad  as  from  the  east  to  the  west !  Lift  it 
until  it  is  as  high  as  the  heaven  is  above  the 
earth!  Make  your  fatherhood  perfect, 
absolute,  infinite,  and  you  know  what  to 
think  of  God !  To  live  a  Christian  life  is  to 
arise  and  go  to  Him,  and  cast  in  your 
lot  with  Him!  Religion,  Jesus  said,  is 
191 


Two  Parables 

summed  up  in  this:  It  is  doing  the  will  of 
that  Father  who  is  in  heaven  by  the  con- 
stant help  revealed  and  brought  to  us 
through  His  only  Begotten  Son,  our  Savior. 

When  we  would  understand  the  meaning 
of  any  doctrine  or  of  any  problem,  we  shall 
succeed  best  if  we  arise  and  go  to  the 
Father  and  examine  it  in  the  light  of  this 
fundamental  truth  as  to  the  Fatherhood  of 
God.  Jesus  was  accustomed  to  translate 
His  doctrines  into  the  terms  of  human  life, 
to  the  end  that  they  might  the  better  feed 
and  bless  men.  Now,  no  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time,  but  he  that  hath  seen 
Jesus  hath  seen  the  Father.  Suppose  we 
should  hold  up  some  of  the  truths  of  re- 
ligion and  read  them  in  the  light  of  this 
parable,  which  is  called  "the  parable  of 
the  prodigal  son, ' '  but  which  is  still  more 
"the  parable  of  the  Father."  Let  us  ask 
each  doctrine  to  arise  and  go  to  the  Father 
and  uncover  its  meaning  in  His  presence! 

What  is  sin?  It  is  the  act  of  a  child  say- 
ing, "Give  me  my  portion  of  goods,"  and 
192 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

then  taking  his  ability,  his  time,  and  his 
money  off  into  a  far  country  to  spend 
them  for  selfish  gratification. 

What  is  repentance?  It  is  the  act  of  a 
child,  away  from  home,  beginning  to  be  in 
want,  surrounded  with  food  that  feeds 
animals  but  does  not  feed  men,  who  comes 
at  last  to  himself  and  says,  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  Father. 

What  is  atonement?  It  is  what  a  parent 
suffers  because  of  his  child's  sin.  It  is  the 
painful  sacrifice  a  Father  makes  in  going 
down  into  the  sinful  situation  where  his 
children  are  entangled,  in  order  to  win 
them  back  to  righteousness.  It  is  the  act 
of  a  Father  seeing  his  son  a  great  way  off 
and  going  out  to  meet  him  and  to  bring 
him  home.  It  is  the  vicarious  suffering 
endured  when  "God  was  in  Christ  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  Himself." 

What   is  grace?     It  is  a  beautiful    name 

for  the  way  a  father  helps  his  children  to 

live  right.     Suppose  one  of  you  that  is  a 

father  had  a  son  who  had  become  a  drunk- 

193 


Two  Parables 

ard.  He  reeled  through  the  streets  and 
disgraced  you.  He  broke  your  heart  and 
left  your  home.  Suppose  he  came  to  him- 
self and  came  home,  saying,  "  I  have  done 
wrong ;  I  want  to  live  a  new  life ;  I  am  not 
worthy  to  be  your  son,  but  give  me  a  place' 
in  the  store  that  I  may  earn  an  honest  liv- 
ing. "  You  know  what  you  would  do.  You 
would  give  him  the  place;  you  would  also 
take  him  into  your  home  and  into  your 
heart.  If,  on  some  dark  night,  he  told  you 
that  he  must  go  down  town  on  an  errand, 
and  that  he  feared  to  pass  the  saloon  doors 
lest  the  old  appetite  should  master  him, 
you  would  not  suffer  him  to  go  alone.  You 
would  walk  down  beside  him;  and  if  his 
arm  should  tremble  as  the  fumes  of  liquor 
were  wafted  out  from  some  door  of  temp- 
tation, you  would  simply  draw  him  more 
closely  to  you,  steadying  him,  assuring 
him  of  a  deeper  love,  and  thus  walk  on 
with  your  son.  That  is  grace !  If  any  one 
of  you  that  is  a  father  knows  how  to  help  his 
faulty  children,  how  much  more  compas- 
194 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

sion  does  your  Heavenly  Father  feel  for 
those  who  need  Him. 

What  is  worship?  It  is  the  act  of  a  child 
associating  with  his  Father;  loving  to  be 
where  He  is;  entering  by  all  the  ways  that 
have  become  sacred  and  dear  into  His 
closest  companionship;  loving  this  all  the 
more  because  he  is  surrounded  by  the 
other  children.  "True  worshipers  shall 
worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship 
Him." 

What  is  prayer?  "When  ye  pray,  say 
Our  Father."  Prayer  is  the  act  of  a  child 
speaking  to  his  Father.  You  see  how  nat- 
ural, how  rational  prayer  is.  How  morbid 
and  queer  a  man  is  who  never  prays ! 

What  is  duty?  It  is  the  loving  compul- 
sion from  within  that  a  son  feels  when  he 
says,  "I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness." It  is  the  choice  of  a  son  who  re- 
mains with  his  Father,  asking  for  nothing 
better  than  to  do  His  will  and  to  share  His 
work,  and  who  presently  hears  his  Father 
195 


Two  Parables 

say,  "Son,  thou  art  ever  with  Me,  and  all 
that  I  have  is  thine." 

What  is  assurance?  You  remember 
Paul's  text,  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed, 
and  I  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to  keep 
that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him." 
But  the  words  of  Jesus  are  even  better. 
Assurance  is  the  feeling  of  security  and 
protection  that  the  children  of  God  enjoy 
because  they  have  placed  their  lives  unre- 
servedly in  His  hands.  They  look  up  and 
out  in  quiet  confidence  saying,  "No  man  is 
able  to  pluck  them  out  of  my  Father's 
hand." 

What  is  death  ?  When  a  child  is  weak, 
sick,  tired,  no  longer  able  to  stand  phys- 
ically, and  when  he  falls  back  into  his 
Father's  arms,  he  naturally  says,  "Father, 
into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 
For  every  Christian,  death  should  properly 
be  an  act,  and  that  act  is  the  experience  of 
death. 

What  is  immortality?     It  is  the  fact  that 

children  will  naturally  share    in    the   same 
196 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

blessed  and  endless  life  of  their  Father. 
When  they  are  doing  His  will  and  knowing 
His  love,  they  see  Him  bending  toward 
them,  and  they  hear  His  voice  calling  to 
them,  " Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 

We  might  box  the  whole  compass  of  re- 
ligion, and  be  guided  unerringly  by  the  fact 
that  the  true  magnetic  needle  will  point 
ever  to  the  cardinal  truth  of  the  Divine 
Fatherhood.  But  from  these  illustrations, 
you  get  the  method.  In  the  interpretation 
of  any  doctrine,  in  attempting  to  know  the 
meaning  of  any  duty  or  burden,  in  solving 
any  mystery  in  religion,  it  is  good  to  arise 
and  go  to  the  Father  and  construe  all 
things  by  this  fundamental  fact,  that  "to 
us  there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father." 

Men  have  sometimes  been  afraid  to  state 
or  to  believe  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God  in 
such  unhesitating  fashion.  It  is  urged  that 
sinful  men  will  presume  upon  it.  It  seems 
risky,  they  say,  to  put  forth  this  concep- 
tion of  God  so  boldly  and  baldly.  A  suffi- 
cient answer  would  be  to  cite  the  example 
197 


Two  Parables 

of  Jesus.  His  pupils  have  taught  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  but  none  of  them  so 
fully  as  did  the  Master.  Other  Bible 
writers  called  God  the  Father,  but  not  one 
of  them  so  many  times  as  did  Jesus  Him- 
self. We  are  entirely  safe  in  following  this 
example  of  our  Lord. 

But  if  we  should  desire  to  preach  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  there  is  no  sovereignty 
to  be  preached  like  that  of  the  Father. 
Suppose  that  I  should  steal.  The  law  of 
California  would  seize  me.  The  sovereignty 
of  this  state  would  send  me  to  prison.  But 
the  severity  of  all  that  would  not  occasion 
my  keenest  suffering.  The  stone  walls,  the 
iron  bars,  the  hated  stripes,  the  bread  and 
water — I  could  bear  all  these.  Other  men 
have  hardened  themselves  against  them — I 
could.  I  should  suffer  most  because  of  the 
pain  I  should  bring  to  my  father.  Yonder 
in  that  old  home,  the  thought  of  his 
broken  heart,  of  the  utter  disappointment 
of  all  his  fond  hopes,  of  his  tears  of  grief 

over  the  sad  fact  that  all  his  sacrifice  and 
198 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

anticipation  on  my  behalf  had  come  to  this 
— that  would  bring  my  keenest  pain.  The 
knowledge  of  my  base  ingratitude  to  the 
kind  hearts  that  cared  for  me  in  childhood 
would  be  a  keen  lash  that  would  beat  me 
with  many  stripes.  That  thought  would 
be  stronger  to  deter  me  from  wrongdoing 
than  the  thought  of  the  sternest  prison. 
The  vision  of  the  sovereignty  of  California 
justice,  strictly  and  sternly  administered, 
would  not  begin  to  hold  the  restraining 
power  contained  in  the  sight  of  my  father's 
love.  It  is  an  awful  thing  for  men  to  lie  or 
swear,  to  be  impure  or  selfish  or  ungodly 
— because  God  is  their  Father.  Arise  and 
go  to  your  Father,  if  you  would  know  how 
black  sin  is,  and  if  you  would  learn  the 
strongest  motive  for  hating  unrighteous- 
ness. 

The  terrible  attitude  of  God  toward 
wrongdoing  cannot  be  stated  more  strongly 
than  to  say,  He  is  "the  Father."  God 
hates  sin  with  an  awful  hatred  because 
it  hurts  men.  It  hurts  His  children.  If  any 
199 


Two  Parables 

one  of  you  that  is  a  father  should  find  some 
night  that  an  ugly  brute  had  broken  into 
your  home  with  a  wicked  purpose  toward 
your  daughter,  whose  indignation  would  be 
most  terrible?  Whose  right  arm  would 
strike  the  hardest  blow?  Not  the  police- 
man's, not  the  judge's,  not  the  reformer's 
— but  the  right  arm  of  the  father! 

Those  who  would  suggest  that  preaching 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  incessantly  as  Jesus 
did,  will  lead  men  to  feel  that  God  is  a 
soft,  indifferent,  easy-going  Being,  who 
scarcely  knows  right  from  wrong,  and  who 
treats  all  men  alike,  whether  they  work 
righteousness  or  work  iniquity,  do  not 
understand  the  meaning  of  fatherhood.  I 
have  asked  you  this  morning  to  read  the 
beautiful  promises  about  grace,  prayer,  and 
forgiveness,  with  the  word  Father  in  your 
hand.  Read  the  solemn  and  severe  pass- 
ages in  the  same  way.  You  will  not  be 
able  to  pronounce  the  words  or  get  their 
meaning  unless  you  do.  God  is  a  consum- 
ing fire.  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked 
200 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

every  day.  The  wicked  shall  be  turned 
into  hell,  and  all  the  nations  that  forget 
God.  We  learn  the  meaning  of  this  atti- 
tude toward  iniquity  when  we  find  that  it 
is  the  feeling  of  a  father  against  the  evil 
that  would  destroy  his  child.  There  is  no 
wrath  like  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb,  the  in- 
dignation of  self-sacrificing  love  against  the 
enemies  of  its  redemptive  passion. 

This  method  of  interpreting  Scripture 
and  doctrine  in  the  light  of  our  Father's 
presence  brings  out,  as  no  other  method  can, 
the  naturalness  and  the  essentialness  of  the 
Christian  life.  Salvation  no  longer  lies  in 
our  minds  as  a  question  of  securing  or  not 
securing  certain  outward  joys  and  comforts 
in  this  world  and  in  the  world  to  come. 
The  matter  of  salvation  is  the  question  as  to 
whether  a  man  will  be  himself  or  lose  him- 
self. We  must  ask,  "What  distorted  cari- 
cature would  a  man  be  willing  to  receive  in 
exchange  for  himself?"  The  healthy,  nor- 
mal, and  well-rounded  human  life  can  be  no 
other  than  the  Christian  life.  If  any  man 

201 


Two  Parables 

would  come  completely  and  finally  to  him- 
self, he  must  of  necessity  arise  and  go  to 
his  Father. 

It  is  good  to  remember,  also,  in  this  con- 
nection what  appears  to  have  been  the  effi- 
cient cause  in  bringing  the  prodigal  to  this 
new  determination.  The  discomforts  of 
his  environment  are  named,  but  the  con- 
trolling motive  seems  to  have  come  from  the 
fact  that  he  remembered  he  had  a  father. 
It  is  regarded  as  good  form  in  some  quarters 
to-day  to  utter  slants  at  theology.  Culture 
is  put  to  the  fore,  and  in  the  emphasis  laid 
upon  the  wholesomeness  and  naturalness  of 
the  ethical  life,  the  supernatural  is  well- 
nigh  crowded  out.  In  the  face  of  such  a 
contention,  it  is  reassuring  to  notice  that  in 
this  intensely  human  parable  it  was  theology 
that  put  the  prodigal  in  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. The  thought  that  he  had  a  father; 
the  knowledge  that  in  that  far-away  fath- 
er's house  there  was  bread  enough  and  to 
spare;  the  confidence  that  a  return  and  a 
confession  would  establish  him,  at  least, 

202 


The  Naturalness  of  a  Religious  Life 

upon  the  footing  of  a  hired  servant  in  that 
house  of  plenty — these  were  the  consider- 
ations that  started  him  upon  a  new  life. 
For  the  moral  betterment  of  the  world,  it 
is  not  less  theology  we  need,  but  more  and 
better  theology.  Men  will  never  be  able  to 
make  this  earth  what  it  ought  to  be  until 
they  see  that  it  has  a  heaven  above  it ;  nor 
can  they  themselves  become  what  they 
ought  to  be  until  they  learn  to  look  for 
direction  and  assistance  up  to  Almighty 
God.  It  will  be  good  to  phrase  this  the- 
ology as  Jesus  phrased  it,  in  terms  of  hu- 
man life  rather  than  in  the  dialectics  of  the 
schoolmen.  Our  statements  of  doctrine  in 
order  to  enter  the  closed  doors,  and  to  be 
able  to  open  men's  understandings  and  to 
effectively  say,  '  Peace  be  unto  you," 
must  not  be  disembodied,  abstract  theories; 
they  must  have  flesh  and  bones.  And  in 
this  translation  of  the  Gospel  message  into 
a  tongue  wherein  all  men  were  born,  we 
shall  be  guided  aright  if  we  become  as  little 
children,  and  do  always  behold  "the  face  of 
203 


Two  Parables 

the  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  We  shall 
be  enabled  to  set  before  men  the  reason- 
ableness and  the  naturalness  of  the  religious 
life,  and  we  shall  come  to  be  our  complete 
selves,  just  in  proportion  as  we  arise  and  go 
to  that  Father. 


204 


A  Personal  Confession 

"  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before  thee." 

That  was  the  first  thing  the  prodigal  said 
when  he  came  back  to  his  father.  It  is 
the  first  thing  any  man  says  when  he  really 
decides  to  live  a  new  life.  The  young  man 
was  away  in  a  far  country,  living  wickedly. 
When  he  came  to  himself,  he  said,  I  will 
arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  my  first 
statement  in  his  presence  will  be  a  personal 
confession  of  my  own  fault — "I  have 
sinned."  The  moment  he  resolved  to  go 
back  and  stand  before  his  father  and  say 
that,  he  was  in  the  way  of  becoming  a 
better  man.  The  personal  acknowledg- 
ment of  guilt,  coupled  with  the  personal 
utterance  of  a  desire  for  forgiveness,  lies 
at  the  very  threshold  of  a  new  life.  It  is 
a  door,  and  any  man  who  enters  by  that 
205 


Two  Parables 

door,   into   the   presence   of   Jesus   Christ, 
will  be  saved. 

It  is  not  the  way  men  often  try  to  begin 
new  lives.  It  is  common  when  we  have 
done  wrong  to  offer  first  a  string  of  excuses. 
The  prodigal  could  have  read  his  father  a 
list  of  " extenuating  circumstances:"  "The 
harlots  tempted  me."  "I  was  young,  and 
evil  companions  led  me  astray."  "My 
father  made  a  great  mistake  in  putting 
into  my  inexperienced  hands  the  portion  of 
of  goods  that  fell  to  me."  A  bad  man 
who  wants  an  excuse  for  being  bad  will 
always  find  one  that  will  be  satisfactory 
to  those  who  are  satisfied  with  it.  But 
there  was  none  of  this  in  the  returning 
prodigal.  He  stood  right  out  in  the  open, 
and  frankly  acknowledged  his  fault  like  a 
man,  "I  have  sinned."  The  story  would 
never  have  ended  with  a  robe  and  a  ring 
and  a  kiss  of  acceptance,  if  he  had  begun 
in  any  other  way.  A  series  of  lying 
excuses  will  never  prove  a  lamp  unto  a 
man's  feet  nor  a  light  unto  his  path  to 
206 


A  Personal  Confession 

guide  him  in  the  way  of  moral  peace  and 
strength. 

Moral  cowardice  dates  away  back.  We 
find  it  appearing  in  the  very  first  instance  of 
wrongdoing.  When  Adam  was  called  to  ac- 
count for  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  he 
turned  around  and  laid  the  blame  on  his  wife 
— "The  woman  gave  me  and  I  did  eat." 
Then  the  woman  passed  it  on  by  laying  the 
fault  at  the  door  of  the  devil — "The  serpent 
tempted  me  and  I  did  eat.**  The  author 
does  not  follow  it  any  further;  no  doubt,  if 
the  serpent  had  been  interviewed,  he  would 
have  passed  the  blame  along,  too.  You  find 
the  world  began  with  this  same  lazy,  cow- 
ardly unwillingness  to  acknowledge  guilt. 
Who  can  say  how  the  story  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden  would  have  ended,  if,  instead  of 
excusing  himself  by  blaming  others,  Adam 
had  fallen  in  penitence  before  the  Al- 
mighty, saying,  "I  have  sinned."  We  do 
know  that  when  the  prodigal  came  back 
from  his  wrongdoing  with  that  confession 
on  his  lips,  he  was  joyfully  restored  to 
207 


Two  Parables 

his  father's  house  and  his  father's  heart. 
Men  are  always  turned  out  of  the  garden  of 
happiness  when  they  blame  others  for  their 
own  sin ;  they  are  faced  at  once  toward  the 
best  robe  and  the  best  food  and  the  highest 
joy  when  they  forsake  their  wrongdoing 
and  go  to  their  Father  with  personal  con- 
fessions on  their  lips. 

A  mother  in  her  mistaken  kindness  may 
always  find  excuse  for  the  faults  of  her 
children.  The  teachers  are  to  blame  be- 
cause they  do  not  like  their  Sunday-school; 
the  public  school  teachers  are  at  fault 
because  the  children  do  not  learn  more  nor 
behave  better;  those  uncouth  playmates 
have  made  her  darlings  rude  and  quarrel- 
some. These  soft  excuses  are  offered  in  the 
presence  of  the  children  until  they  become 
self-righteous  little  prigs,  imagining  that, 
undisturbed  by  outside  influence,  they  never 
could  go  wrong.  Being  relieved  of  blame, 
they  gradually  lose  the  definite  moral  sense ; 
they  come  to  lack  all  feeling  of  responsibil- 
ity, and  are  no  better  than  moral  jellyfish. 
208 


A  Personal  Confession 

It  is  bad  for  children  to  be  drugged  and 
put  to  sleep  with  moral  soothing  syrup. 
They  take  the  sweet  opiates  until  they 
come  to  the  point  where  they  feel  no  pain 
nor  unrest  from  having  done  wrong,  and  then 
they  are  morally  drowsy  through  all  those 
formative  years.  It  is  still  worse  when 
men  and  women  carry  this  baby  habit  up 
into  maturity.  When  asked  why  he  is  not 
a  Christian,  some  man,  looking  around  for 
a  convenient  place  to  lay  the  blame,  will 
tell  you  he  was  made  to  go  to  church  too 
much  when  he  was  a  boy;  or  that  he  was 
taught  a  stern  and  rigorous  theology  which 
repelled  him.  It  is  a  mean,  false  excuse. 
It  is  an  ugly  piece  of  cowardice  when  a 
man  slanders  the  honest  efforts  of  his  Chris- 
tian parents  to  make  a  good  man  of  him, 
rather  than  shoulder  the  blame  of  his  failure 
to  serve  God.  The  people  who  tell  you 
that  they  are  kept  out  of  the  Kingdom  by 
the  inconsistencies  of  Christians ;  and  those 
who  plead  that  they  are  not  good  enough 

to  begin  to  do  the  will  of  God ;  and  those 
209 


Two  Parables 

who  say  that  there  are  things  about  religion 
they  do  not  understand,  as  if  they  imagined, 
for  a  moment,  that  the  rest  of  us  had  solved 
all  mysteries — these  friends  are  all  hiding 
behind  the  door  to  avoid  the  direct  respon- 
sibility of  walking  through  it.  They  are 
not  ready  to  say,  "I  have  sinned,"  and  to 
ask  for  a  place  where  they  can  humbly 
serve  the  Father. 

There  are  people  in  every  community 
who  have  no  moral  life  at  all.  Not  that 
they  are  entirely  immoral,  but  they  make 
their  decisions  touching  conduct  from 
habit,  from  convention,  from  the  chance 
impulse  or  mood,  rather  than  from  a  direct 
sense  of  obligation  to  a  moral  law.  And 
in  accounting  for  their  characters,  they 
have  the  same  defective  sense  of  personal 
life.  "Circumstances  over  which  they  had 
no  control"  made  them  as  they  are.  They 
leave  out  their  own  personal  agency,  as 
Aaron  did  when  he  excused  himself  to 
Moses  by  saying  that  the  people  gave  him 
the  gold,  and  "then  I  cast  it  into  the  fire 

210 


A  Personal  Confession 

and  there  came  out  this  calf."  He  does 
not  deny  the  wickedness  of  making  idols, 
but  he  would  insinuate  that  "the  fire"  was 
to  blame.  He  cast  in  the  gold  and  some- 
how "there  came  out"  that  image  of  a  calf 
that  would  so  readily  appeal  to  the  ignorant 
Israelites,  fresh  from  the  sight  of  the  wor- 
ship of  the  sacred  bulls  in  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

Circumstances,  environment,  the  world, 
these  are  the  fires,  as  Phillips  Brooks  says, 
into  which  men  cast  their  natures,  and  then 
the  blame  for  the  worldly,  or  unbelieving, 
or  insincere  men  that  result,  is  laid  upon 
the  dumb  furnace.  The  current  is  setting 
in  a  certain  direction;  men  put  their  boats 
into  it  and  drift;  and  then  they  excuse 
themselves  from  further  responsibility  by 
claiming  "the  current  did  it."  This 
would-be  helplessness  and  laziness  so  con- 
fuse the  moral  vision  and  so  debilitate 
the  nature  that  at  last  the  man  is  not  a 
man  but  a  thing.  How  healthful  and  hope- 
ful in  the  midst  of  all  this  fog  is  the  clear, 

211 


Two  Parables 

definite  acknowledgment  of  the  prodigal — 
"I  have  sinned!"  It  brought  him,  as  it  will 
bring  any  man,  into  the  presence  and  the 
favor  of  his  father. 

In  these  hard  times,  we  hear  much  about 
the  great  industrial  regime  and  the  com- 
mercial system  that  holds  us  all.  Many  of 
us  are  believers  in  the  sociological  side  of 
religion ;  we  are  waiting  for  the  consolation 
of  industrial  Israel,  and  trust  that  we  shall 
not  die  before  we  have  seen  the  Son  of 
Man  coming  in  that  part  of  His  Kingdom. 
But  a  great  deal  of  the  trouble  has  resulted 
from  our  own  wrongdoing.  The  liquor 
bill  of  the  United  States  last  year  was 
$962,000,000,  and  the  tobacco  bill  was 
$600,000,000  more.  Those  are  not  neces- 
sities— they  would  be  termed  luxuries ;  and 
in  many  cases  have  proved  themselves  most 
hurtful  luxuries.  The  larger  part  of  the 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-two  millions  of 
money  for  rum  came  from  the  workingmen, 
the  poorer  men.  Before  we  lay  the  entire 
blame  of  the  hard  times  upon  a  Republican 

212 


A  Personal  Confession 

or  upon  a  Democratic  administration;  be- 
fore we  talk  ourselves  hoarse  as  to  the  evils 
of  a  competitive  or  the  blessings  of  a  co- 
operative system,  we  had  best  take  heed  to 
our  own  ways.  We  have  built  huge  brew- 
eries and  distilleries;  we  have  spotted  our 
cities  all  over  with  rum  shops,  and  the  well- 
being  of  our  country  has  suffered  in  conse- 
quence. Nine  hundred  and  sixty-two  mil- 
lions of  dollars  poured  down  the  throats  of 
men  to  their  own  hurt  in  a  single  year 
would  have  put  bread  enough  and  to  spare 
in  many  a  father's  house.  Industrial  re- 
formers sometimes  sneer  at  such  observa- 
tions as  being  mere  preaching,  and  not 
economic  wisdom.  But  they  point  to  a 
lesson  that  must  be  learned.  If  a  working- 
man  spends  a  third  or  a  tenth  of  his  narrow 
income  for  rum,  he  will  have  just  that 
much  less  to  spend  on  objects  that  make 
life  worth  living,  whether  he  happens  to  be 
under  a  Democratic  or  a  Republican  admin- 
istration, a  competitive  or  a  socialistic  re"- 
gime.  Men  have  sinned  against  the  law  of 
213 


Two  Parables 

well-being  and  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  that 
wrongdoing  must  be  admitted  and  cor- 
rected before  they  can  come  in  to  the  feast 
and  begin  to  be  merry. 

We  hear  much  in  these  days  about  social 
Christianity.  There  is  "a  gospel  for  the 
state,  a  gospel  for  the  city,  a  gospel  for 
industry,  and  a  gospel  for  society."  All 
these  concrete  relationships  existing  among 
men  need  to  be  transformed  by  the  renew- 
ing of  their  minds.  The  whole  face  of 
organized  life  should  shine  with  new  light, 
and  its  institutional  garments  should  be- 
come white  and  radiant.  But  there  is 
danger,  meanwhile,  lest  the  gospel  of  the 
individual  be  obscured,  and  lest  we  come 
into  bondage  to  a  false  way  of  thinking. 
There  is  no  society,  or  state,  existing  as 
such — the  only  realities  are  the  individual 
lives  composing  these  organizations  and 
grouped  together  under  convenient  names. 
Corporate  life  can  only  repent  and  believe 
the  gospel  of  its  renovation,  as  the  individ- 
uals concerned  come  to  have  the  mind  and 
214 


A  Personal  Confession 

spirit  of  Christ.  Selfish  men  will  inevit- 
ably maintain  a  selfish  industrial  system, 
and  we  shall  never  be  able  to  make  a  per- 
fect social  order  until  we  have  perfect  men 
to  serve  as  material.  And  surely  the  only 
agency  that  will  furnish  us  the  sort  of 
individuals  requisite  for  that  ideal  society  is 
the  omnipotent  grace  of  Almighty  God, 
appropriated  by  repentant,  confessing,  and 
believing  men.  I  am  not  saying  this  be- 
cause it  is  the  orthodox  and  fitting  thing 
for  a  clergyman  to  say,  but  because  the 
fatal  criticism  upon  most  of  the  social  and 
industrial  schemes  proposed,  is  that  we 
have  not  enough  of  good  character  on  hand 
to  work  them.  The  quantity  of  reliable 
character  demanded  will  come  as  men  rec- 
ognize their  sins,  confess  them,  and  obtain 
such  forgiveness  and  grace  as  will  enable 
them  to  live  changed  lives. 

When  we  come  to  deal  with  the  evils  and 

misfortunes  of  a  world  that  is  out  of  joint, 

we  must  be  ready  to  see  and  confess  our 

personal  participation   in   causing   the    dis- 

215 


Two  Parables 

order.  The  capital  /  must  not  be  merged 
in  misty  talk  about  humanity.  Each  man 
must  draw  a  clear  line  around  his  own 
agency  in  the  matter,  and  if  he  has  sinned 
and  done  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  order  that 
should  have  obtained,  he  must  say  so.  If 
we  are  square  and  honest,  we  cannot  escape 
the  need  of  personal  acknowledgment  of 
guilt.  You  could  have  done  better;  you 
could  be  living  a  more  useful  life  now;  you 
could  make  your  daily  life  at  once  more 
nearly  an  expression  of  the  will  of  God. 
No  evasion  of  this  fact  or  of  our  share  of 
responsibility  for  the  existing  condition  will 
be  atoned  for,  by  large  flourishes  about  the 
Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  or  the  regeneration 
of  the  corporate  life.  An  ounce  of  clear, 
cold  honesty  is  worth  a  ton  of  warm,  vague 
sentimentalism,  when  we  seek  to  put  our- 
selves right  with  God  and  man,  or  to  make 
the  world  better. 

Many  are  ready  to  join  in  general  confes- 
sions that  do  not  mean  anything,  nor  com- 
mit them  to  any  obligation  to  face  about. 
216 


A  Personal  Confession 

We  have  all  erred  and  strayed  from  the  way ; 
we  have  done  things  that  we  ought  not  to 
have  done,  and  have  left  undone  things  that 
we  ought  to  have  done;  we  are  miserable 
offenders.  Human  nature  is  weak.  To 
err  is  human.  All  these  pious  common- 
places may  be  very  well  as  general  state- 
ments in  a  liturgical  service,  but  to  make 
good  character,  the  confession  must  become 
more  personal  and  definite.  The  most 
polite  and  humble  reference  to  the  general 
imperfectness  of  human  life  and  the  faulti- 
ness  of  the  world  at  large,  does  not  take 
the  place  of  the  frank  admission,  "I  have 
sinned."  We  are  born  and  we  live  and 
we  die  not  collectively,  but  as  individuals; 
and  we  are  saved  and  become  useful  serv- 
ants of  the  living  God  in  the  same  per- 
sonal way. 

The  natural  attitude  of  church  members 
is  one  of  personal  confession  of  need.  Your 
neighbors  might  say  that  people  join  the 
church  because  they  feel  they  are  so  good 
• — better,  in  fact,  than  their  fellows.  How 
217 


Two  Parables 

queer  that  sounds !  The  exact  opposite,  of 
course,  is  the  truth.  Some  candidates  for 
membership  came  before  the  church  com- 
mittee last  week.  What  did  they  say? 
What  did  you  say  when  you  came?  "We 
are  better  than  the  average  people — in  fact, 
our  lives  are  about  right?"  No;  they  told 
us  they  had  sinned  against  heaven  and  be- 
fore men ;  that  they  desired  to  make  open 
confession  of  their  need  of  forgiveness  and 
of  a  Savior,  and  to  ask  for  the  help  and 
fellowship  of  the  Christian  church.  When 
our  hearts  begin  to  believe  unto  righteous- 
ness, our  mouths  also  make  confession  unto 
salvation.  The  people  who  turn  their  backs 
on  religion  are  the  self-satisfied  ones  who 
say  they  do  not  need  its  help.  Those  who 
kneel  before  God  in  prayer;  who  reverently 
open  their  Bibles  to  learn  the  will  of  God ; 
who  assemble  at  the  table  of  their  Lord, 
that  their  deepest  hunger  may  be  fed,  are 
the  ones  who,  by  their  whole  habit,  make 
the  standing  confession,  we  have  sinned,  and 
we  are  asking  the  mercy  and  the  help  of  God. 
218 


A  Personal  Confession 

It  is  strange  that  people  have  a  false 
sense  of  shame  about  confessing  that  they 
have  sinned  and  need  the  saving  help  of 
God.  The  pure  air  of  the  New  Testament 
is  one  of  frank  confession.  You  find  it  on 
every  honest  pair  of  lips,  save  the  lips  of 
our  Lord,  who  knew  no  sin.  At  the  ap- 
proach of  Christ  and  upon  the  revelation  of 
His  power,  the  cry  of  Peter  was,  "Depart 
from  me,  for  I,  am  a  sinful  man."  John 
said,  "If  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive 
ourselves ;  but  if  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us."  James 
encourages  men  to  "confess  their  faults  one 
to  another,  and  to  pray  for  one  another 
that  they  may  be  healed."  And  the  great- 
est apostle,  not  at  the  opening  of  his  Chris- 
tian life,  but  near  its  close,  writes  that 
"This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of 
all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom 
I  am  chief."  As  you  walk  in  company 
with  these  men  who  have  been  the  moral 

leaders   of    the   world,    you    become   con- 
219 


Two  Parables 

scious  of  the  essentialness  of  personal  con- 
fession. 

It  is  the  only  honest  and  healthy  basis 
for  the  beginning  of  right  life.  Men  may 
make  for  themselves  soft  cushioned  seats 
out  of  the  excuses  they  frame;  but  if  they 
propose  to  be  real  men,  nothing  is  so  good 
as  the  plain,  straight-backed  chair  of  abso- 
lute honesty.  Openly  acknowledge  the 
fact  that  you  are  a  sinful  man  and  need  the 
grace  and  mercy  of  God.  Take  your  place 
among  those  who  have  nothing  to  say  of 
themselves,  except  that  they  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  and  look  to  God 
to  be  filled.  Admit  that  you  are  in  want 
of  better  and  more  abundant  life,  and  arise 
and  go  to  the  Father  with  your  confession 
that  you  may  receive  it.  "He  that  cov- 
ereth  his  sins  shall  not  prosper;  but  whoso 
confesseth  and  forsaketh  them  shall  have 
mercy."  To  make  open  confession  is  to 
uncover  the  nature  to  God  and  to  invite 
His  unhindered  approach. 

The  clear  utterance  as  to  the  sense  of 

220 


A  Personal  Confession 

personal  lack  and  need  is  one  that  always 
calls  out  our  human  sympathy.  The  Har- 
vard and  Yale  men  had  just  rowed  a  cele- 
brated race.  Yale  had  won,  as  Yale  has  a 
way  of  doing.  At  the  Harvard  boathouse 
a  great  company  of  students  were  talking 
with  the  oarsmen  and  trying  to  account  for 
the  defeat.  One  man  blamed  it  on  the 
coach.  Another  felt  that  the  shell  was  not 
built  right.  John  Doe  was  confident  that 
the  stroke  had  been  too  long,  and  Richard 
Roe  was  sure  it  was  not  long  enough.  At 
last  one  of  the  Harvard  crew  spoke  out: 
"I  know  why  we  were  beaten" — everybody 
listened — "we  didn't  row  as  fast  as  they 
did."  Every  Yale  man  and  every  other 
man  would  love  him  for  the  frank  ad- 
mission that  the  fault  was  not  in  the 
coach,  nor  the  oars,  nor  their  stars,  but  in 
themselves. 

Have  charity.  Have  a  wide,  all-embrac- 
ing patience  and  charity  —  for  everybody 
but  yourself.  Find  excuses,  make  allow- 
ances, temper  judgment  with  mercy  in  re- 

221 


Two  Parables 

garding  the  failings  of  others;  but  when 
you  take  yourself  in  hand,  get  up  and  sit 
on  the  judgment  seat  and  administer  coun- 
sel in  the  spirit  of  clear  and  definite  justice. 
Unconsciously  there  will  creep  in  as  much 
constitutional  self-pity  as  will  be  whole- 
some for  you.  Strive  to  be  strict  and 
sternly  honest,  and  where  you  find  yourself 
at  fault,  say  plainly,  "I  have  sinned." 
The  great  forgiving  mercy  of  God  will  be 
all  the  more  eager  to  meet  your  hard,  firm 
honesty  while  you  are  yet  a  great  way  off; 
and  instead  of  the  place  of  a  hired  servant 
which  you  meant  to  ask  in  connection  with 
your  confession,  will  bestow  upon  you  the 
ring  and  the  robe  and  the  kiss  that  belong 
to  a  reinstated  son. 

The  old  books  of  devotion  may  sound 
extravagant  to  us  in  their  statements  as 
to  the  sense  of  sinfulness.  Some  of  the 
hymns  we  use  sound  unreal  with  our  pres- 
ent habit  of  mind ;  many  of  the  sentences 
in  the  "Imitation"  are  laid  aside  by  the 
modern  reader  as  obsolete.  Perhaps  the 

222 


A  Personal  Confession 

ascetic  view  was  morbid,  but  in  our  day  the 
sense  of  sin  is  all  too  superficial.  The 
feeling  that  we  have  broken  the  law,  vio- 
lated the  divine  order,  disobeyed  the  will 
of  our  Maker,  sinned  against  heaven  and  in 
the  eyes  of  men,  is  faint  where  it  ought  to 
be  deep  and  strong.  The  easier  way  of 
thinking  is  reflected  in  our  very  termi- 
nology. Stealing  shades  off  into  "klepto- 
mania;" adultery  is  an  "irregular  relation;" 
lying  and  cheating  and  other  wickedness 
have  all  their  diminutive  titles  so  that  they 
may  be  referred  to  with  less  offense  to  the 
morally  sensitive.  If  we  should  go  on 
mixing  our  colors  and  confusing  our  judg- 
ments until  we  put  darkness  for  light,  and 
light  for  darkness;  until  we  call  evil  good, 
and  good  evil,  then  our  moral  life  would  be 
over,  and  our  alienation  from  God  would  be 
complete. 

This  parable  is,  indeed,  the  classical  pass- 
age regarding  the  mercy  and  helpfulness  of 
God ;  but  remember  that  it  is  always  to  be 
read  in  its  due  order.     The  father  loved  his 
223 


Two  Parables 

son  and  longed  for  his  return.  He  was 
watching  and  waiting  for  that  event,  so  that 
he  caught  sight  of  him  instantly  even  when 
he  was  yet  a  great  way  off.  But  he  did 
not  carry  out  the  ring,  the  robe,  and  the 
feast,  and  bestow  them  upon  the  prodigal 
while  he  was  yet  with  the  swine,  and  wast- 
ing himself  by  living  with  low  companions. 
The  son  must  leave  the  far  country  and 
must  be  on  his  way  to  his  father,  with  a 
confession  in  his  heart  and  on  his  lips — 
then,  and  then  only,  can  he  claim  the  bless- 
ing and  acceptance  of  the  Father.  If  we 
say,  by  our  attitude  toward  God,  that  we 
have  no  sin  that  needs  repentance  and  con- 
fession for  its  effacement,  we  deceive  our- 
selves, and  the  truth  is  not  in  us.  "But  if 
we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  just 
to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness." 


224 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

"  When  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw 
him." 

The  young  man  had  been  what  we  call 
rapid.  He  came  into  his  fortune  early  in  life, 
which  was  perilous.  Our  little  boats  are 
not  able  to  carry  full  sail,  and  when  they 
go  before  the  wind  with  all  their  canvas 
spread,  they  are  apt  to  go  upon  the  rocks. 
In  the  far  country  he  found  that  so  long  as 
he  had  plenty  of  money  to  spend,  he  had 
plenty  of  friends  to  help  him  spend  it. 
Then  he  found  that  the  money  being  gone, 
the  false  friends  were  gone,  too.  He  had 
spent  all,  and  began  to  be  in  want,  and  no 
man  gave  unto  him.  He  got  down  so  low 
that  he  was  feeding  swine  and  earning  but 
a  meager  living  by  it.  He  remembered J;he 
wholesome  plenty  of  his  father's  house. 
He  resolved  to  go  back  and  begin  life  over 
225 


Two  Parables 

again,  even  though  he  had  to  start  as  a 
hired  servant.  On  reaching  the  vicinity  of 
his  former  home,  he  would  be  ashamed  to 
meet  people  in  the  road.  But  no  one 
knew  him ;  he  looked  like  a  tramp,  clothes 
torn,  dirty,  ragged,  shoes  worn  out — the 
first  thing  his  father  did,  you  remember, 
was  to  call  for  a  robe  and  shoes.  The 
prodigal  would  have  felt  ashamed  to  have 
people  recognize  him,  but  it  was  even 
worse  to  feel  that  his  wicked  life  had 
changed  him  beyond  recognition.  At  last 
he  saw  the  old  home !  There  is  the  figure 
of  a  man  who  has  rapidly  grown  gray  dur- 
ing these  sad  years!  But  though  the  eyes 
were  dim,  the  moment  they  fell  upon  that 
vagrant-like  figure,  they  knew  him.  The 
loving  eyes  of  the  father  did  what  the  in- 
different eyes  of  the  neighbors  failed  to  do. 
When  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father 
saw  him  and  had  compassion,  and  ran  and 
fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him.  The 
moment  he  had  kissed  him,  there  began  to 
issue  also  from  his  lips  words  of  forgive- 
226 


OF 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

ness,  directions  for  his  comfort,  utterances 
of  rejoicing  that  the  son  whom  he  had 
mourned  as  "lost"  and  "dead,"  was 
"found"  and  "alive  again." 

How  did  the  father  chance  to  see  him  so 
soon?  He  was  watching  for  him.  His 
eyes  were  on  the  road  where  the  son  who 
was  tired  of  the  want  and  the  husks,  the 
harlots  and  the  swine  of  the  far  country, 
might  travel  back  to  his  father's  house. 
You  remember  Lachlan  Campbell  in  the 
Bonnie  Brier  Bush.  He  was  the  stern  old 
Calvinistic  elder,  who  sat  in  judgment  on 
the  theology  of  the  Glen,  and  straightened 
out  the  minister  who  slipped  in  a  bit  of 
compassionate  heresy  that  seemed  to  min- 
imize the  awful  sovereignty  of  God.  His 
daughter  Flora  at  last  rebelled  against  the 
harsh  regime  of  her  home,  and  ran  away  to 
London.  The  Elder  was  no  less  severe 
upon  his  own;  he  related  her  fall  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Session,  and  with  his 
own  lips  moved  that  her  name  be  stricken 

from  the  church   roll.     But   afterward   he 
227 


Two  Parables 

got  a  glimpse  of  the  New  Testament;  he 
had  been  locked  up  in  the  Old.  He  had 
always  said  " Jehovah,"  but  now  he  learned 
to  say  "Our  Father."  He  caused  a  letter 
to  be  written  to  his  erring  daughter  asking 
her  to  come  home,  and  assuring  her  of  for- 
giveness. Then  the  stern  old  man,  think- 
ing his  daughter  would  return  at  night, 
lighted  a  huge  parlor  lamp  that  was  kept 
for  show,  and  placed  it  at  the  window. 
"And  every  night  till  Flora  returned,  its 
light  shone  down  the  steep  path  that  as- 
cended to  her  home,  like  the  divine  love 
from  the  open  door  of  our  Father's  house." 
I  want  to  preach  to  you  this  morning 
about  the  way  the  Heavenly  Father 
watches  the  road  by  which  men  slowly  and 
painfully  make  their  way  up  to  nobler  liv- 
ing. He  recognizes  even  the  faint  begin- 
nings and  the  first  awkward  efforts  at  good- 
ness. Even  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
resist  temptation  and  the  blundering  move- 
ment toward  the  right,  never  fall  to  the 
ground  without  His  notice.  His  clear  eye 
228 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

pierces  through  the  mistaken  theology  of 
men,  through  their  lack  of  knowledge 
touching  the  historical  revelations  He  has 
made,  and  gathers  into  its  loving  attention 
the  faltering  steps  of  every  man  who  is 
even  faced  toward  his  Father's  house.  He 
is  the  joyful  witness  of  all  conduct  that  by 
its  spirit  indicates  a  potential  faith  in  the 
saving  grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  state- 
ment is  full  of  comfort  to  the  prodigal  and 
to  this  whole  imperfect  world  of  ours,  that 
"when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his 
father  saw  him."  We  rejoice  in  the  fact 
that  God  comes  out  to"  meet  His  children 
and  show  them  the  way  and  bear  them 
company,  when  they  undertake  to  live  new 
lives. 

Remember  the  reluctant  forgiveness  that 
we  sometimes  dole  out  to  wrongdoers! 
Remember  how  liable  we  are  to  question 
the  motives  of  certain  men  who  are  facing 
about  and  beginning  to  show  an  interest  in 
religion!  Remember  how  slow  of  heart 

we  are  to  believe  that  bad  men  can  actually 
229 


Two  Parables 

become  good  men  by  the  grace  of  God! 
Then  walk  out  into  the  sunshine  of  a  state- 
ment like  this  text.  The  neighbors  might 
have  said,  "He  was  starved  unto  it;  he  had 
spent  all,  and  no  man  gave  unto  him." 
"He  has  come  for  the  loaves  and  the  fishes, 
the  bread,  and  the  robe,  and  the  shoes  of 
his  father's  house."  "We  will  wait  five 
years  to  see  if  he  'holds  out,'  and  then  we 
will  know,  for  sure,  whether  or  not  he  is 
sincere."  There  was  none  of  this  with  the 
father;  no  questioning  as  to  his  purpose; 
no  withholding  of  forgiveness  until  a  year 
of  good  conduct  had  demonstrated  his 
clearer  right  to  it ;  no  inquiry  as  to  possible 
mixed  motives.  Nothing  but  eager  haste 
to  welcome  to  a  father's  heart  the  man  who 
was  tired  of  doing  wrong  and  was  ready  to 
do  right.  When  he  was  yet  a  great  way 
off  the  loving,  gracious  helpfulness  of  the 
father  met  him,  to  make  his  further  entrance 
into  the  new  life  easier  and  more  joyous. 

First  let  me  speak  of  how  the  Father's 
loving  recognition  reaches  us  while  we  are  a 
230 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

great  way  off  as  to  the  correctness  of  our 
belief.  It  is  said,  "No  matter  what  a  man 
believes,  so  long  as  he  is  sincere."  It  is  a 
lazy,  false,  and  misleading  statement.  A 
man  might  be  ever  so  sincere  in  believing 
that  corrosive  sublimate  is  as  wholesome  as 
pure  water;  if  he  drank  half  a  pint  of  it,  it 
would  kill  him.  Some  things  are  whole- 
some and  some  are  deadly;  we  must  dis- 
criminate and  govern  ourselves  accordingly. 
Some  things  are  true  and  some  are  false. 
A  man  is  under  strict  obligation  to  do  his 
best  to  know  the  truth,  and  to  believe  and 
to  live  by  the  truth  for  his  soul's  health. 
The  Scriptures  recognize  this  in  their  con- 
stant effort  to  lead  every  man  into  the 
presence  of  that  Light  in  which  there  is  no 
darkness  at  all.  To  this  end  they  boldly 
assert  the  pre-eminence  and  the  authority 
of  the  revelation  made  to  men  through  the 
Hebrew  people.  Even  so  broad  and 
catholic  a  teacher  as  our  Lord  said  frankly, 
"We  know  what  we  worship,  for  salvation 

is  of  the  Jews."     And  in  defining  His  own 
231 


Two  Parables 

position,  He  said,  "I  am  the  way,  and  the 
truth,  and  the  life;  no  man  cometh  to 
the  Father  but  by  Me/' 

But  along  with  this  claim  and  this  en- 
deavor there  is  the  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  technical  correctness  of  theological 
theory  is  not  essential  to  acceptance  with 
God.  Men  who,  in  the  colloquial  sense, 
are  a  great  way  "off,"  theologically,  are 
seen,  and  blessed,  and  used  by  the  Father. 
Now  and  then  the  Scriptures  draw  back  the 
curtain  and  we  look  out  beyond  the  borders 
of  the  Hebrew  people  and  see  men  in  the 
distance  controlled  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  speaking  the  truth  of  God.  The  nar- 
row minds  of  our  own  day  have  sometimes 
denied  the  existence  of  divine  inspiration 
outside  the  chosen  people,  but  the  Scrip- 
tures acknowledge  it  and  utilize  it  as  a  part 
of  the  body  of  spiritual  instruction  given  to 
mankind.  Balaam  was  a  pagan,  living 
somewhere  beyond  the  Euphrates,  but  he 
held  communion  with  the  true  God,  and  is 

allowed  to  possess  the  Spirit  of  God.     The 
232 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

whole  account  of  his  struggle  to  serve  two 
masters  by  making  terms  with  both  God 
and  Balak,  finds  its  point  in  the  fact  that 
he  was  acting  in  the  face  of  a  genuine 
revelation.  He  acknowledges  the  divine 
compulsion  laid  upon  him.  "If  Balak 
would  give  me  his  house  full  of  silver  and 
gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond  the  word  of  the 
Lord  my  God,  to  do  less  or  more."  His 
splendid  words,  preserved  in  Micah,  are 
often  quoted,  as  giving  us  the  very  gist  of 
religion.  When  Balak  came  to  consult 
him,  with  the  rewards  of  divination  in  his 
hand,  Balaam  answered:  "Wherewith  shall 
I  come  before  the  Lord?  Shall  I  come 
before  Him  with  burnt  offerings?  Will  the 
Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams  or 
with  ten  thousand  rivers  of  oil?"  That 
might  have  been  the  reply  of  formal  super- 
stition ;  it  might  have  been  the  answer  of 
undue  trust  in  the  legal  system  of  ceremo- 
nial requirements.  But  with  a  clear  insight 
as  to  the  essentials  of  religion,  he  replies: 
"He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is 
233 


Two  Parables 

good;  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of 
thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?'*  This 
from  a  pagan  who  lived  when  the  children 
of  Israel  were  wandering  in  the  wilderness, 
when  the  Holy  Land  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  the  Canaanites,  and  when  only  the  faint 
beginnings  of  this  holy  Book  had  been 
committed  to  writing!  Truly,  when  he 
was  yet  a  great  way  off  his  Father  saw  him 
and  inspired  him,  and  used  him  for  the 
moral  instruction  of  his  people. 

The  Book  of  Job  entered  through  the 
same  wide,  hospitable  door  into  the  body 
of  holy  writ.  The  discussion  of  divine 
government  and  of  the  problem  of  human 
suffering  is  carried  on  there  by  pagans  with 
an  Arab  sheik  in  the  land  of  Uz.  They  do 
not  quote  nor  appeal  to  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures then  in  existence.  They  simply  bring 
their  moral  reason  to  bear  on  the  hard 
question  before  them,  and  the  whole  move- 
ment of  their  contention  is  outside  the  pale 
of  Hebrew  revelation.  Yet  the  Spirit  of 
234 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

God  breathes  from  these  pages,  and  this 
book  rightly  holds  an  honored  place  in  the 
sacred  canon. 

The  same  thing  is  seen  when  Cornelius,  a 
Roman  who  had  not  renounced  his  heath- 
enism, but  who  was  a  man  of  reverence 
and  charity,  came  to  Peter.  It  required 
a  heavenly  vision  to  prepare  Peter  for 
the  interview  and  to  make  him  sufficiently 
broad  church  to  admit  this  uncircumcised 
Gentile  into  the  fold  of  God's  accept- 
ance. But  after  "Peter  thought  on  the 
vision/*  he  heartily  welcomes  this  choice 
plant  of  righteousness,  although  it  grew 
outside  the  garden  of  the  Hebrew  reli- 
gion. "Cornelius,  thy  prayer  is  heard  and 
thine  alms  are  had  in  remembrance  in  the 

sight   of    God Of   a  truth  I 

perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons; but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
Him  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted 
of  Him.'* 

The    same    Spirit    spoke    through    Paul 
when   he    stood    on    Mars   Hill    and    faced 
235 


Two  Parables 

the  heathen  idolaters  of  Athens.  Pointing 
to  their  altar  inscribed,  "To  the  Unknown 
God,"  he  cried:  "Whom  ye  ignorantly 
worship,  Him  I  declare  unto  you.  He  is 
not  far  from  any  one  of  us,  for  in  Him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being; 
as  certain  of  your  own  poets  have  said, 

.  .  .  .  we  are  also  His  offspring." 
In  every  case  there  is  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  the  Father  sees  men  who  are 
a  great  way  off  from  the  main  current  of 
divine  revelation,  and  that  He  helps  them 
to  know  more  of  that  truth  which  should 
one  day  make  them  free. 

Let  me  appeal  to  a  still  higher  authority. 
In  the  scene  of  the  last  judgment  portrayed 
by  our  Lord  Himself,  certain  men  are  held 
to  be  good  enough  to  have  these  words 
pronounced  upon  them:  "Come,  ye  blessed 
of  my  Father,  inherit  the  Kingdom  pre- 
pared for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  The  Son  of  Man,  representing 
humanity,  says  to  them,  "I  was  hungry, 
and  ye  gave  Me  meat."  It  startles  them. 
236 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

They  do  not  seem  to  have  known  Christ, 
nor  to  have  suspected  the  relation  of  the 
kindly  activity,  in  which  they  had  been 
engaged,  to  the  Lord  of  life.  "Lord,  when 
saw  we  Thee  hungry?"  They  had  simply 
obeyed  that  universal  principle  of  duty 
which  bids  us  help  the  needy,  and,  in  do- 
ing that,  they  had  unwittingly,  it  seems, 
been  brought  into  vital  and  saving  relations 
with  the  Redeemer  of  the  world.  Think 
of  what  that  passage  suggests!  The  Son 
of  Man  upon  the  throne  of  His  glory,  and 
before  Him  gathered  all  nations!  Among 
those  nations  are  some  who  are  such 
strangers  to  the  trend  and  drift  of  Chris- 
tian thought  that  they  do  not  know  the 
intimate  connection  between  serving  the 
needy  and  serving  Christ.  Yet,  though 
they  are  a  great  way  off  in  their  knowledge 
of  Christian  revelation,  the  Son  of  Man 
sees  them  and  welcomes  them:  "Come,  ye 
blessed  of  My  Father,  inherit  the  King- 
dom." 

Those   who    would    limit   the   work    of 
237 


Two  Parables 

Christ  to  the  days  of  His  earthly  activity, 
and  to  the  circle  of  those  who  have  subse- 
quently been  put  in  possession  of  the  Chris- 
tian documents,  deny  the  force  of  such 
passages  as  these,  and  they  dishonor  the 
Lamb  of  God,  whose  eternal  office  it  is  to 
take  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  God  has 
not  been  speaking  with  His  Hebrew  chil- 
dren "face  to  face  as  a  man  speaketh  with 
his  friend,"  and  leaving  all  His  other  chil- 
dren in  blank  silence.  The  pre-eminence  of 
the  Hebrew  knowledge  of  morality  and 
religion  comes  from  the  fact  that  they  were 
peculiarly  sensitive  and  responsive  on  spir- 
itual lines.  The  Hebrew  nation  became 
the  chosen  people  because,  somehow  in  the 
general  division,  to  it  was  given  five  re- 
ligious talents,  while  other  nations  were  less 
generously  endowed.  But  God  hath  not 
left  Himself  without  witness  anywhere,  nor 
has  He  created  any  men  totally  lacking  in 
ability  to  respond  to  that  witness.  What- 
ever moral  light  has  fallen  on  the  page  of 
life  in  China,  or  in  India,  or  in  darkest 
238 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

Africa,  has  come  from  the  true  light  that 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world.  We  can  rejoice  to  believe  that  even 
though  such  men,  in  their  knowledge  of 
religion  and  in  their  ability  to  receive  moral 
truth,  were  a  great  way  off,  yet  the  Father 
has  seen  them,  and  has  hurried  to  meet 
every  sincere  movement  toward  right  liv- 
ing, that  He  might  lead  it  into  His  own 
house  and  acquaint  it  with  the  grace  and 
truth  that  comes  by  Jesus  Christ. 

One  day  Jesus  was  walking  in  the  midst 
of  a  crowd  that  pressed  upon  Him  from 
every  side.  Suddenly  He  exclaimed, 
"Who  touched  Me?"  The  disciples  were 
almost  amused  at  the  query.  "Master,  the 
multitude  throng  Thee  and  press  Thee, 
and  askest  Thou,  Who  touched  Me?"  But 
the  believing,  appealing  touch  of  that  suf- 
fering woman  could  not  be  hid  by  the  mass 
of  careless  contact.  She  had  been  ill  for 
twelve  years,  and  could  not  be  healed  by 
her  physicians.  She  said,  "If  I  may  touch 
but  His  clothes,  I  shall  be  whole."  It  was 
239 


Two  Parables 

a  blind,  unreasoning  sort  of  faith.  It  was 
akin  to  the  superstitious  reverence  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  for  relics,  for  the  bones  of 
saints,  for  the  holy  coat  of  Treves.  This 
woman  looked  for  her  help  to  the  hem  of 
the  genuine  holy  coat.  But  though  she 
was  a  great  way  off  in  attributing  efficacy 
to  the  clothes  and  in  imagining  she  could 
stealthily  secure  her  health  and  shrink  away 
with  it  in  the  crowd,  Christ  saw  her  appeal 
and  blessed  it.  And  when  she  came  and 
fell  down  at  His  feet  confessing  her  strange 
trust,  He  added  another  blessing:  "Daugh- 
ter, be  of  good  comfort;  thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole;  go  in  peace." 

In  the  second  place,  the  Father  sees  us 
when  we  are  a  great  way  off  in  our  moral 
attainments.  Those  who  fancy  that  God 
takes  little  personal  interest  in  men  until 
they  are  well  established  in  saintliness  need 
to  read  this  parable  again.  He  sees  men 
trudging  along  who  have  only  started  for 
home.  He  sees  them  when  they  are  just 
turning  away  from  the  old  life,  and  making 
240 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

bold  to  say,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
Father."  He  looks  even  beyond  that; 
He  recognizes  the  unfulfilled  purpose  of 
the  heart.  When  David  cherished  a  desire 
to  build  a  temple  in  honor  of  the  God  who 
had  given  him  victory  over  his  enemies  and 
established  him  firmly  upon  the  throne,  he 
was  not  allowed  to  carry  out  his  wish  be- 
cause of  his  wars.  And  his  disappointment 
is  broken  to  him  by  those  divine  words  of 
gentleness,  "Thou  shalt  not  build  the 
house ;  nevertheless  thou  didst  well,  that  it 
was  in  thine  heart."  It  is  not  simply  what 
men  have  done  or  have  ability  to  do  now, 
but  what  they  have  the  genuine  desire  to 
do.  The  loving  purpose  is  seen  and 
acknowledged,  even  though  it  is  a  great 
way  from  its  fulfillment. 

In  certain  lodge  rooms  you  have  seen  a 
great  eye  painted  on  the  ceiling.  Wherever 
you  stand  in  the  room  it  looks  directly  at 
you.  It  turns  all  ways  like  the  flaming 
sword  that  kept  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 
It  serves  to  remind  the  members  of  the 
241 


Two  Parables 

fraternity,  that  as  all  their  movements  in 
the  lodge  room  are  within  the  immediate 
attention  of  that  eye,  so  all  their  actions  in 
daily  life  are  under  the  all-seeing  eye  of  the 
Omnipotent  God.  The  fact  that  God  does 
see  us  all  the  time  has  sometimes  frightened 
children.  It  becomes  to  them  an  almost 
hateful  spying  upon  their  little  shortcom- 
ings. It  ought  not  to  be  interpreted  solely 
on  the  adverse  side.  "His  eye  seeth  every 
precious  thing,"  we  are  told  in  the  Book  of 
Job.  The  despairing  effort  at  goodness 
that  some  better  nature  makes  yonder  in 
the  slums,  only  to  fall  back  and  fail  under 
the  constant  pressure  of  a  hindering  hered- 
ity and  an  evil  environment;  the  wistful 
look  at  active  usefulness  that  comes  from  a 
crippled  and  broken  life ;  the  timid,  uncon- 
fessed,  unbaptized  desire  to  know  the 
Savior  of  the  world,  and  be  at  peace  with 
Him,  that  fills  some  life,  but  which  is  held 
back  by  some  blindness  from  open  identifi- 
cation with  the  Kingdom  of  God;  the 
groping  steps  of  one  who  walks  as  yet  in 
242 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

the  twilight,  but  who  is  beginning  to  feel 
that  life  must  have  a  deeper  and  holier 
meaning — all  these  things  would  not  pass 
muster  as  Christian  conduct;  they  might 
not  be  named  before  the  church  committee 
as  grounds  for  admission  to  membership  in 
the  church.  But  in  the  sight  of  the  Father 
they  are  all  "precious  things,"  and  He  sees 
them  even  though  the  fulfillment  toward 
which  they  look  is  yet  a  great  way  off. 

Ministers  constantly  wish  that  more  peo- 
ple would  attend  church,  and  that  more  of 
those  who  do  attend  would  make  open  con- 
fession of  their  allegiance  to  our  Lord. 
Our  work  in  life  is  to  add  to  the  number  of 
professing  and  practicing  Christians.  But 
we  should  be  narrow  and  mean  if  we  esti- 
mated the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
solely  by  the  number  of  those  who  unite 
on  profession  of  faith  with  our  various 
churches.  When  I  look  into  quarters 
where  the  unchurched,  unbaptized  activities 
of  life  are  carried  on,  I  see  that  God  has 
other  sheep  which  are  not  of  this  fold, 
243 


Two  Parables 

nor  of  the  Presbyterian  fold,  nor  of  the 
Methodist  fold,  nor  of  any  denominational 
fold.  There  are  men  who  seem,  by  their 
actions,  to  possess  the  spirit  of  faith,  but 
who  have  failed  to  give  it  adequate  outward 
expression — them  also,  I  trust  that  God  at 
last  will  bring,  that  there  may  be  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd. 

Railroad  men  are  often  spoken  of  as 
non-church  goers,  and  are  sometimes  called 
an  ungodly  class  of  men.  Many  of  them 
are  not  seen  regularly  in  the  house  of  God, 
and  many  of  them,  perhaps,  not  at  all. 
But  you  rarely  hear  of  an  engineer  desert- 
ing his  post  in  the  hour  of  peril,  or  flinch- 
ing from  his  duty  when  he  sees  accident 
and  death  on  the  track  ahead.  You  more 
often  find  him  buried  under  his  engine,  his 
dead  hand  still  grasping  the  throttle  or  the 
air-brake.  We  are  told,  sometimes,  that 
physicians  are  skeptical,  irreligious  men. 
Their  studies  may  incline  them  to  material- 
ism; concentrated  attention  on  the  body 
may  obscure  the  claims  of  the  spirit.  Their 
244 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

professionl  duties  often  hinder  their  regular 
and  constant  attendance  at  public  worship. 
But  you  never  heard  of  a  physician,  worthy 
to  bear  the  name,  who  refused  to  go  and 
treat  a  poor  sufferer  until  he  had  been 
assured  that  there  would  be  the  financial 
ability  to  meet  his  bill.  They  place  their 
healing  skill  at  the  call  of  the  public,  and 
trust  that  compensation  may  come  at  the 
end.  Much  of  it  never  does  come.  The 
doctor  may  or  may  not  drop  his  dollar  in 
the  plate  when  the  charity  collection  is 
taken,  but  no  class  of  men  gives  more  to 
the  poor  than  do  our  city  physicians.  It  is 
well  known  that  with  all  their  knowledge  of 
medicine  and  hygiene,  they  die  before  their 
time.  They  are  prematurely  worn  out  by 
exposure  and  overwork — much  of  it  unpaid 
work,  rendered  as  a  labor  of  love  to  those 
who  suffer  pain.  These  two  classes  of 
busy  men  will  suffice  for  illustration.  It 
seems,  sometimes,  that  they  show  a  defi- 
ciency on  the  side  of  life  that  we  call  piety. 
They  might  look  confused  if  we  were  to 
245 


Two  Parables 

ask  them,  "Have  you  been  born  again?" 
"Are  you  justified  by  faith?"  But  these 
are  not  the  only  texts  in  the  Bible.  It  is 
good  when  our  eyes  fall  upon  the  engineers 
and  the  physicians,  and  the  many  similar 
lives,  to  remember  that  our  Master  also 
said,  "Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this, 
that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends. ' ' 
When  we  visit  a  cornfield,  we  can  only 
take  into  our  estimate  the  corn  that  is  actu- 
ally up.  The  swelling,  sprouting  grains 
below  the  surface  that  have  not  broken 
ground  lie  beyond  us.  In  the  great  field  of 
human  nature,  where  "He  that  soweth  the 
good  seed  is  the  Son  of  Man,"  we  feel  our 
limitations  when  we  attempt  to  estimate 
the  prospects  for  a  great  harvest  of  right- 
eousness. The  Christian  goodness  that  has 
pushed  up  into  sight,  spread  itself  upon  the 
rolls  of  our  churches,  entered  into  benevo- 
lent activities,  and  is  uttering  its  clear 
and  definite  testimony,  we  know.  But 
those  hidden  germs  and  seeds  of  good 
character,  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  they 
246 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

shall  be.  However,  the  eye  of  the  Father 
can  recognize  and  rejoice  over  these  hope- 
ful, fruitful  indications,  even  when  their 
perfect  fulfillment  is  yet  a  great  way  off. 

Ministers  are  often  asked  at  what  age 
children  should  be  allowed  to  unite  with 
the  church.  No  fixed  rule  can  be  given ; 
it  all  depends  on  the  child  and  on  the  qual- 
ity of  the  home  life  in  which  the  child  is  to 
grow.  It  is  not  wise  to  urge  careless  and 
reluctant  boys  and  girls  into  church  mem- 
bership. But  when  they  grow  thoughtful 
and  earnest,  when  they  desire  to  show  their 
love  for  the  Savior  by  uniting  with  the 
church  He  founded,  it  is  not  good  to  post- 
pone one  of  the  very  ends  for  which  we 
have  been  praying.  They  do  not  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  Christian  life  as  they 
will  later,  but  even  the  oldest  and  ripest 
Christians  are  still  "disciples."  When 
children  have  the  love  of  Christ  in  their 
hearts,  and  when  they  choose  His  way  as 
their  part  in  life,  they  are  good  enough  to 
be  enrolled  in  the  school  of  Christian  good- 
247 


Two  Parables 

ness  and  to  have  a  place  at  the  Father's 
table.  He  sees  these  innocent  beginnings 
of  Christian  life,  even  though  judged  from 
an  adult  standard  they  are  a  great  way  off, 
and  He  hastens  to  give  them  place  within 
His  own  substantial  recognition. 

But  let  me  ask,  How  does  the  Father  see 
men  and  run  to  them  while  they  are  a  great 
way  off?  It  has  been  said  that  in  this 
parable,  the  classical  passage  on  repentance, 
there  is  no  mention  of  atonement  or  of 
mediation  between  God  and  man — the  son 
comes  simply  and  directly  to  the  Father. 
But  the  Father  saw  the  son  while  he  was  a 
great  way  off,  because  He  had  been  looking 
for  him;  He  had  been  going  down  to  the 
gate  and  straining  His  eyes  to  get  the  first 
glimpse  of  a  possible  return.  And  when 
you  state  this  attitude  and  disposition  on 
the  part  of  God,  what  have  you  done  but 
to  describe  the  revelation  He  made  of  Him- 
self when  "the  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost?"  This 
watchful,  eager,  loving  interest  of  God  in 
248 


The  Watchful  Interest  of  the  Father 

men  who  are  afar  off  is  but  another  name 
for  the  grace  and  truth  that  came  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

I  preach  this  to  you  as  the  Gospel  of  the 
Son  of  God.  We  have  all  done  wrong. 
We  are  all  under  obligation  to  live  holy 
lives.  But  we  are  not  left  to  find  our  way 
up  to  complete  righteousness,  unaided. 
We  are  not  called  upon  to  establish  our- 
selves in  holiness  before  there  can  come  a 
look  of  recognition  from  the  source  of  all 
goodness.  Our  redemption  is  undertaken 
from  above.  It  is  a  part  of  the  whole 
system  of  things  in  which  we  live.  The 
Lamb  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world;  and  without  that  redemptive  pur- 
pose of  Him  who  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God,  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made.  The  whole  movement  for  our  moral 
welfare  was  inaugurated  and  is  sustained 
by  the  omnipotent  hands  of  Him  whose 
watchful,  fatherly  interest  I  have  preached 
to  you  this  morning.  If  we  ever  learn  to 

love  God,  it  will  be  because  He  first  loved 
249 


Two  Parables 

us.  If  we  become  saints,  it  will  be  because 
while  we  were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for 
us.  If  we  find  our  way  at  last  into  our 
Father's  house  to  go  no  more  out,  it  will 
result  from  the  fact  that  while  we  were  yet 
a  great  way  off  He  saw  us  and  hastened  to 
offer  us  His  own  abundant  helpfulness. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


250 


PRINTED  BY  R.  R.  DONNELLEY 
AND  SONS  COMPANY  AT  THE 
LAKESIDE  PRESS,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


